Islamic Books For Free: Recent Episodes
Islamic Books For Free
All of the sound recordings on our channel contain original books or translations of great circumcision scholars. These books are literally from others from islamicbooksforfree.com sites. Arabic and Persian books are very valuable original books of these great scholars. Books in other languages were translated from these original books one to one. The preparation of all these books and their translation into other languages has always been carried out by the great Islamic scholar Hüseyin Hilmi Işık, "Rahmetullahi Aleyh", day and night for years.
Since Prophet Adam (alaihi-salam), they changed and denied the religions revealed in every century by saying that they were the words of ignorant primitive people. Such assertions made by disbelievers are quoted, and answered in many parts of the Quran al-Karim. For example, Allahu Taala says after the thirtieth ayat of Muminun Sura: “They didn’t believe Prophet Nuh (Noah ‘alaihi-salam’), so we drowned them in water. For the people we created after them, we sent a Prophet from amongst them and said, ‘Worship Allahu Taala. There is nobody other than Him to be worshipped. Fear His torment!’ Many of those who didn’t obey, who didn’t believe in the rising after death, and yet whom We had given plenty of worldly blessings, said to others, ‘This Prophet eats and drinks like you. If you believe someone who needs many things like you, you will be deceived and suffer a loss. The Prophet tells you that after dying and after your bones have rotted and turned into dust and soil you will be resurrected and get up from your graves. Is that ever possible? Whatever exists is in this world. Paradise and Hell are all in this world. This is the way it has been and this is the way it goes. There is no rising after death.”
Endless Blıss First Fasicle: 41
It is impossible to escape torment in the Hereafter for those who deviate as much as a hair’s breadth from the creed and iman communicated by the Ahl as-Sunna scholars, the great and pious people. It is understood by the human mind, the Quran alKarim, all hadith sharifs and the great religious men’s perceptions through the eye of their hearts. There is no possibility of this being wrong. Words and books of those who deviate as much as a hair’s breadth from what these great people communicated in their books are poisons. Zindiqs who use the religion as a means in order to earn worldly possessions and who, after introducing themselves as men of religion, write whatever occurs to their minds, are thieves of faith. They steal the beliefs of those who read their books and magazines. Those who believe them think of themselves as Muslims and perform salat. However, because their iman has been stolen and lost, none of their prayers, worships or good deeds are accepted, nor will they be of any value in the next world. Concerning those who sell their religion for the world, Allahu Taala revealed the sixteenth ayat of Baqara Sura: “Those that are ignorant and idiots gave away their religion in order to get the pleasures and enjoyments of the world. Selling out their next world, they received the world and what their lusts desired. Abandoning the way to salvation, they ran after perdition. They earned nothing in this act of buying and selling of theirs. They didn’t know the way of trading or earning. They lost a great deal.”
Endless Blıss First Fasicle: 36
The first thing necessary for all people is to have iman and the creed of the Ahl as-Sunna scholars as communicated in their books. It is these scholars who have explained the way of our Prophet Muhammad (alaihi-salam), who have comprehended murad-i ilahi (the divine purpose) of the Quran al-Karim, and who have extracted the Prophet’s purpose from the hadith sharifs. It is the way shown by them that will save us on the Day of Rising. It is the Ahl as-Sunna scholars who have transferred the way of Allah Taala’s Prophet and his companions (radiy Allahu taala anhum ajmain) into books and who have protected them against being changed or defiled. 5 – Those scholars in the four Madhhabs who reached the grade of ijtihad and the great scholars educated by them are called the Ahl as- Sunna scholars. The leader and the founder of the Ahl as-Sunna is (Imam azam Abu Hanifa Numan bin Thabit ‘radiy Allahu taala anh). 6 – Sahl bin Abdullah Tusturi (rahmatullahi alaih), one of the great Awliya (plural for wali, one loved by Allahu Taala) who reached the grade of haqiqat (the highest grade in Tasawwuf), says: “If there had been a person like Imam Azam Abu Hanifa (rahmatullahi taala alaih) among the ummats of Prophet Musa and Isa (alaihimus-salatu was-salam), they wouldn’t have turned into Jews or Christians.” 7 – Millions of books written by Imam Azam Abu Hanifa (rahmatullahi taala alaih) and by hundreds of his disciples and by the thousands of great people educated by them, correctly spread and promulgate our Prophet’s way all over the world. Today, there is not a city, a village or a person left in the free world that has not heard about the Islam communicated by our Prophet. Now, Islam can be easily learned anywhere in the world through the internet. Upon hearing about Islam, if someone sincerely wants to learn it correctly, Allah Taala promises that He will grant them true knowledge. There are publications giving the names of the books on Islam that fill the world’s libraries.
Endless Blıss First Fasicle: 33-34
Allahu Taala declares in the Quran al-Karim, in the eightieth ayat of Nisa Sura that obedience to Prophet Muhammad (alaihi-salam) is obedience to Him. Then, unless His Messenger is obeyed, He will not be obeyed. In order to make it known that this is absolutely certain and clear, He declared in an ayat Karima: “Of course, it is certainly so.” Thus He gave no opportunity for some people who cannot think properly to see these two orders as obedience different from each other. Again, stating dissatisfaction with those who look on these two orders of obedience as two different things, in the 150th and 151st ayats of Nisa Sura of the Quran al-Karim, Allahu Taala declares: “The disbelievers want to differentiate Allahu Taala’s commands from His Prophets’ commands. They (Jews) say they believe in Musa (Prophet Moses ‘alaihi-salam), but they do not believe in others (Prophet Isa and Muhammed ‘alaihimus-salatu was-salam). They (Christians) say they believe in Jesus (Prophet Isa ‘alaihi-salam) and call him the son of Allah (may Allahu Taala protect us from such an aberrant belief). These beliefs are of no value. All of them are disbelievers. For all of them we have prepared Hell with very bitter torments.”
Endless Blıss First Fasicle: 32
[Allahu Taala declares in many places of the Quran al-Karim that this is so. For example, He declares in the thirty-first ayat of Ali Imran Sura: “Oh my beloved Prophet (sall-Allahu alaihi wa sallam)! Tell them, ‘If you love Allahu Taala and if you want Allahu Taala to love you in turn, adapt yourselves to me! Allahu Taala loves those who adapt themselves to me’.”] Allahu Taala does not like any of the things that are incompatible with the Ahkam Islamiya. Is it possible that rewards will be given for the things that are disliked?
Endless Blıss First Fasicle: 32
To have iman means to begin following Prophet Muhammad (alaihi-salam) and to enter through the door of bliss. Allahu Taala sent him to invite all the people of the world to bliss and declared in the twenty-eighth ayat of Saba Sura: “Oh my beloved Prophet! (sall-Allahu alaihi wa sallam) I sent you to humanity so that you should give the good news of endless bliss to all the people in the world and to guide them along this way to happiness.”
Endless Blıss First Fasicle: 31
It is called ibadat (worship) to do the fard and sunna and to avoid the haram and makruh, that is, to observe the rules of Islam in order to attain Allahu Taala’s love and receive thawab (rewards in the hereafter). There is no worship without an intention. In other words, it is necessary first to have iman and then to learn and observe the rules of Islam in order to follow Prophet Muhammad (alaihi-salam).
Endless Blıss First Fasicle: 31
Then, the thing which is of the highest necessity, which is the most important fard for every Muslim, is to learn iman, the fard and the haram. There is no Islam unless these are learned. Iman cannot be maintained, the debts to Allahu Taala and to human beings cannot be paid, intentions and morals cannot be corrected and purified unless the basic principles of Islam are learned. Unless correctly intended, no fard will be accepted. It was declared in a hadith in ad-Durr-ul-Mukhtar: “Learning or teaching knowledge for one hour is more blessed than worshipping until morning.” The author of the book Hadarat-ul-quds states on the ninety-ninth page: “I studied the books Bukhari, Mishkat, Hidaya and Sherh-imawaqif under Hazrat Imam Rabbani’s (rahmatullahi alaih) supervision. He would encourage young people to acquire knowledge. ‘Knowledge first, and tariqat next,’ he would say. Noticing my shirking from knowledge and taking pleasure from tariqat, he pitied me and advised me, ‘Read books! Acquire knowledge! An ignorant pious muslim will be a plaything in the hands of the devil,’ [that is, the rank of knowledge is the highest of all ranks.]”
Endless Blıss First Fasicle: 30-31
It is written in the seventy-third page of the book Mir’at ulMaqasid concerning an intention for an abdast (ritual ablution, wudu) in Ibni Abiddin (rahmatullahi alaih) and in the fifty-fourth page in the translation of Milal-Nihal that there are three kinds of actions: The first is masiyyat, that is, sinful actions. These are the actions which Allahu Taala dislikes. It is masiyyat not to do what Allahu Taala has commanded to be done, or to do what He has prohibited. The second one is taat, those actions which Allahu Taala likes. They are also called Hasana. He has promised that He will give Ajr, that is, thawab (blessings in the Here-after) to a Muslim who performs taat. The third group of actions are called Mubah, which have not been declared to be sinful or taat. They are taat or sinful depending on the intention of the person who does them. Sins are not exempted from being sins if they are committed with or without a good intention. The hadith, “Actions are good or bad depending on the intention,” declares that the taat and mubah actions will be given rewards in accordance with the intention. If a person, in order to please someone, offends another person, or gives alms from someone else’s property, or builds mosques or schools with haram money, they will not be given rewards. It will be ignorance to expect rewards for these efforts. Cruelty and sins are still sins even if they are committed with goodwill. What is blessed about such actions lies in not doing them. If one does them knowing that they are sins, it will become a grave sin. If one does them without knowing, it will be a sin also not to know or not to learn the things that are known by most Muslims. Even in Dar alharb (those countries not under Islamic rule) it is not an excuse, but a sin, not to know the Islamic rules which are widely known. When the taats are done without an intention or intended for Allahu Taala’s sake, blessings are given.
Endless Blıss First Fasicle: 28-29
Religion means the way prescribed by Allahu Taala in order to guide people to endless bliss. The unwholesome ways which people make up under the name of religion are not called religion; they are called irreligiousness and disbelief. Since the time of Prophet Adam (alaihi-salam), Allahu Taala has sent mankind a religion by means of a Prophet every thousand years. These Prophets (sall-Allahu alaihi ajmain) are called Rasul. On the other hand, in every century, by making the purest person the Prophet, He has strengthened the religion through him. These Prophets who followed the Rasuls are called Nabi. All the Prophets have taught the same iman; they have asked their umma (community of followers of a prophet) to believe in the same tenets. Yet, since their Sharias, that is, the things that are to be done and avoided through the heart and body, were different, they were different in being Muslims. Those who have iman and adapts themselves to the Ahkam Islamiya is a Muslim. Those who want to adapt the Ahkam Islamiya to their desires and pleasures are disbelievers. They don’t understand that Allahu Taala has sent religion in order to break the desires and pleasures of the nafs (a force in people that is enemious to Allahu Taala) and to prevent their excessive indulgence. Every subsequent religion (religious system, devine order) has abolished or changed the religion previous to itself. The latest religion that has changed all the religions prior to it, which has assimilated all the previous Sharias within itself, and which will never change until the end of the world is Prophet Muhammad’s (alaihi-salam) religion. Today, the religion which Allahu Taala likes and loves is the Islamic religion, which is based on these rules and essentials. To those who perform the fard and abstain from the haram, which this Sharia communicates, Allahu Taala will bestow blessings and favors in the Hereafter. That is, they will receive thawab (rewards in the Here-after). For those who do not perform the fard and do not abstain from the haram, there are punishments and suffering in the next world.
Endless Blıss First Fasicle: 26/27
‘Malak’ (angel) means ‘envoy’, ‘messenger’ or ‘power’. Then the Hamalat al-Arsh and then the four archangels will be annihilated. At the second sound all angels will come back to life. The Hamalat al-Arsh and the four archangels will rise before the second sound of the Sur. That is, these angels will be annihilated after all the living creatures, as they were created before all.
In Islam, iman means believing that Rasulullah (sall-Allahu Taala alaihi wa salam) is the Prophet sent by Allahu Taala; knowing to be the truth and saying with belief that he is the Nabi, the Messenger chosen by Allahu Taala, believing in brief what he conveyed briefly and in detail what he conveyed in detail from Allahu Taala, and saying the Kalimat ash-shahada with the mouth whenever possible. Strong iman is such that, as we know for certain that fire burns and serpents kill by poisoning and so try to avoid them, we should believe in Allahu Taala and His Attributes deeming them great, fully at heart, strive for His approval (rida), run to His beauty (jamal), escape from His wrath (ghadab) and torment (adhab), and place iman on the heart firmly like an inscription on marble.
Rasulullah (sall-Allahu Taala alaihi wa sallam) said that the first of the essentials of Islam was “to say the Kalimat ash-shahada”; that is, one should say, “Ash’hadu an la ilaha illa Allah wa ash’hadu anna Muhammadan abduhu wa rasuluh.” In other words, a sane person who has reached the age of puberty and who can talk has to say, “On the earth or in the sky, there is nothing nor anyone but Allahu Taala who has the right to be worshipped and Who is worthy of deifying. The real Deity is Allahu Taala alone. He is the Wajib ul-wujud. Every kind of superiority exists in Him. No defect exists in Him. His name is Allah,” and to believe in this absolutely with all their heart. Also one should say and believe: “The most noble person named Muhammad ibn Abdullah who had a face that was rosy in appearance, white-reddish, bright and lovely, with black eyes and brows, a blessed wide forehead and beautiful manners, whose shadow never fell on the ground, who was soft-spoken and was called Arab because he had been born in Mecca of Hashemitedescent, is the human being and Messenger sent by Allahu Taala.” The Prophet’s mother was Hazrat Amina bint (daughter of) Wahab. His birth in Mecca honored the world [at the dawn of Monday, April 20, in the (Gregorian) year 571]. When he was forty, he was informed that he was the Prophet [Monday, Ramadan 17, 610]. That was named the year of ‘Bi’tha’ (a prophet’s being sent for calling people to the right path). After this, he invited people to Islam, in Mecca, for thirteen years. Then he migrated (the Hijrat, Hegira) to Medina on the command of Allahu Taala. From there, he spread Islam everywhere. Ten years after the Hijrat, he passed away in Medina in July 632 (on Monday 12, Rabi al- Awwal) 5. Islam’s fifth essential is “for the able person to perform the hajj (pilgrimage) once in their life.” For an able person who has money enough for going to and coming back from the city of Mecca including an amount sufficient for the subsistence of the family they leave behind until they come back, it is fard once in their lifetime to perform tawaf around the Kaaba and to perform Waqfa on the plain of Arafat, provided that the way is safe and their body is healthy.
The Quran al-Karim is the Kalam al-Ilahi (Divine Speech, Word of Allahu Taala). Allahu Taala sent the Quran al-Karim to Muhammad (alaihi-salam) through an angel named Jebrail (Gabriel, alaihi-salam). The words in the Quran al-Karim are in the Arabic language, and they descended in ayats (verses), letters and words arranged together by Allahu Taala. The meanings carried by these letters and words convey the Kalam al-Ilahi. These letters and words are called the Quran al-Karim. The meanings that disclose the Kalam al-Ilahi are the Quran al-Karim as well. This Quran al-Karim which is the Kalam al-Ilahi is not a creature. It is eternal and everlasting, like the other Attributes of Allahu Taala. Once every year Jebrail (alaihi-salam) would visit to recite, in the same order as they had been recorded in the Lawh almahfudh (where all matters have been inscribed, in Paradise), the part of the Quran al-Karim that had already been revealed, and our Prophet would repeat it. In the year when he was about to honor the Hereafter, Jebrail (alaihi-salam) visited twice, reciting the entire Quran al-Karim. Our blessed Prophet and most of the Sahaba had memorized the Quran al-Karim wholly. In the year when he honored the Hereafter with his blessed being, Abu Bakr as-Siddiq, the Caliph, brought together those who had memorized the Quran al-Karim and having gathered those parts that had already been written, had a committee write down the entire Quran al-Karim. Thus a written copy called the mus’haf came about. Thirty-three thousand Sahabis reached a consensus that every letter of that copy of the mus’haf was in its right place.
What is initially necessary for every person to do is to say the kalimat at-tawhid and to believe its meaning. The kalimat attawhid is: “La ilaha illa Allah, Muhammadun Rasulullah,” and it means: “Allahu Taala exists and is One. Muhammad (alaihisalam) is His Prophet.” To believe this fact means to “have iman,” and to “become a Muslim.” A person who has iman is called a ‘Mumin (Believer)’ and a ‘Muslim’. Iman has to be continuous. Therefore, it is necessary to avoid doing acts that cause disbelief and using things that symbolize disbelief.
The debt of gratitude and human duties to be performed and believed by human beings towards Allahu Taala with the heart, tongue and body were defined by Allahu Taala and communicated by His beloved Prophet (sall-Allahu Taala alaihi wa sallam)! The human duties which Allahu Taala showed and ordered are called Islam. One thanks Him by following the way His Prophet taught. Allahu Taala does not accept or like any thanks, any worship incompatible with or outside this way, because there are many things which men consider good or beautiful but which Islam disapproves of and regards as ugly. Hence, in thanking Allahu Taala, people who have reasoning should adapt themselves to Hazrat Muhammad (alaihi-salam). His way is called Islam. A person following Muhammad (alaihi-salam) is called a Muslim. Thanking Allahu Taala, that is, following Muhammad (alaihi-salam), is called ibada (worship).
Man has two kinds of heart. One of them is piece of flesh in his chest, which also we call ‘heart’. The other one is a force placed in that piece of flesh. Whenever we say, “heart,” we will mean the latter. Belief and unbelief, love and hostility all take place in this second heart. Man’s limbs are under the command of this heart. An owner of a pure heart will follow reason and will always do useful things. A person with an unhealthy and wicked heart will follow the nafs and will always do whatsoever is harmful. Acts of worship performed with ikhlâs, and performing namâz, particularly, will purify the heart. Allâhu ta’âlâ has prohibited things that are deleterious to the heart and make it unhealthy, (that is, He has made them harâm.) Sinning is deleterious to the heart. The illness incurred by sinning will be light or heavy, depending on the gravity of the sin committed. When the heart becomes ill, worship will feel difficult. Primary medicine for an illness of heart is tawba and istighfâr. Acceptability of a tawba made requires ceasing from sinning and doing acts of worship. Performing namâz is the most useful act of worship for the acceptability of tawba, which in turn is a medicine for a heart illness. It is very easy to perform namâz once daily. To perform namâz five times daily will feel difficult to people whose hearts are unhealthy. On the other hand, if namâz is performed frequently, love of Allah will blossom in the heart. In process of time love of Allah will fill the entire heart.
Once love of Allah has settled in the heart, the greatest fortune has been attained. [Love of Allah will leave the hearts of people who are preoccupied with worldly activities and whose concern is how to obtain the transient blessings and pleasures of this world. The most effective medicine to heal a person of this illness is to repeat the Kalima-i-tawhîd. Therefore, Allâhu ta’âlâ, owing to His infinite Mercy, has commanded to perform namâz five times, and not only once, daily. This command of Allâhu ta’âlâ is intended not to cause trouble for men, but to heal them of their heart illness.] Namâz is the pillar of Islam, performing it will strengthen one’s faith. If a person does not perform namâz, he will be a person without faith. During the Ottoman times, young people would gather around a Walî in order to learn their faith and patriotism. Paths guided by great scholars were called tarîqa(t). Tarîqats spread far and near. Number of Muslims and that of young people learning patriotism increased. When freemasons who had obtained government positions saw this state of affairs, they helped irreligious and ignoble people to infiltrate the tarîqat organizations. As the number of true Muslims decreased and dwindled, the blessed organizations remained in the hands of irreligious and immoral people.
Endless Bliss First Fasicle | Page 298-299
ALLAH EXISTS Shaikh Muhammad Rebhâmî, one of the renowned Islamic scholars, relates in the fifteenth page of his book entitled Riyâdun-nâsikhîn, borrowing from the book entitled Zâd-ul-muqwîn: The Byzantine Kaiser sent an envoy to Me’mûn bin Hârûn, the seventh Abbasid Khalîfa. An awesome and arrogant man was with the envoy. The envoy said to the Khalîfa, “This man is an irreligious unbeliever. He does not believe in a creator. Byzantine priests failed to answer him. If the Islamic scholars manage to silence him, they will make millions of Christians and Muslims happy.” The scholars of Baghdâd said that there was only one scholar to answer that man, and he was Ahmad Nishâpûrî. The Khalîfa decided on a certain hour of a certain day and ordered all the scholars to convene at the palace. Nishâpûrî was rather late for the session, so he offered the following apology: “I saw something astonishing and quite unusual on my way. Watching it made me late. As I was waiting for the ship at the shore of the Tigris River, a huge tree came out of the earth. Then it fell down and broke into pieces, which presently turned into planks of wood. Then the planks came together to make a ship. Without a captain the ship began to sail.”
When the Byzantine unbeliever heard these words he sprang to his feet and said, “This man must be crazy. Are those things ever possible? He who says so is a liar. One must be without a brain to believe him.” Nishâpûrî interrupted him and said, “When these things cannot take place on their own, how can so many astonishing things on the earth come into being on their own? Mustn’t a person be even more idiotic and more lowly to deny the creator of all these things?” Thereupon the unbeliever said, “Now I realize and believe that the entire existence has a creator.” Expressing the statement LÂ ILÂHA IL-L-ALLAH, he became a Muslim. It is narrated that a similar event took place during the time of Imâm Ghazâlî. Khalîfa Me’mûn passed away in the hijrî year 218.
Endless Bliss First Fasicle | Page 297
Performing dhikr is done by repeating the name of Allâhu ta’âlâ or by seeing someone who is a Walî. If you cannot find a Walî, you can make râbita to a Walî whom you have heard of before. It is stated in a hadîth-i sherîf: “When they are seen, Allâhu ta’âlâ will be remembered.” In other words, seeing a Walî is dhikr of Allâhu ta’âlâ. This is one of the hadîth-i sherîfs quoted in Irshâd-ut-tâlibîn, in Ibni Mâja, in Edhkâr, in Râbita-i sherîfa of ’Abdulhâkîm Efendi, and in the eleventh letter of Dost Muhammad Kendihâr›. Râbita does not necessarily have to be made to the exact figure of a Walî. When a person sees a murshid or reads his books, he will love him as he loves himself, for the murshid is the person who has taught him Islam correctly, who has saved him from worldly disasters and perdition in the Hereafter, and who has guided him to everlasting felicity. When he sees him or, if he cannot see him, thinks of him lovingly, the fayds coming to the murshid from Rasûlullah will flow into his heart, too. It is stated in the seventy fourth page of Maqâmât-i-Mazhâriyya: “As Mukarram Khân was dying, they put Ubaydullâh-i-Ahrâr’s skullcap on his head. ‘Take it off! Fetch my murshid’s headgear, instead. For he is the person who caused me to attain happinesses,’ he said.” The figure with which Râbita is made does not necessarily have to be exactly the murshid himself. If a person closes his eyes and makes râbita to the same image for five to ten minutes in the morning and in the evening every day, after a while the Walî’s soul will appear in the same image and will begin to talk like in a dream, and will do him favours.
As is understood from the hadîth-i-qudsî we have quoted in the thirty-fourth chapter of the second fascicle of Endless Bliss, if a Muslim mentions the name of a Walî whom he knows and loves upon attending his sohbats or reading his books and calls on him imploringly, Allâhu ta’âlâ will make that Walî hear him, even if the Walî is absent or dead. The Walî will come and help him. If a Walî wishes to know about something that has happened before or which will happen later, Allâhu ta’âlâ will make him know about it. Such favours and gifts which Allâhu ta’âlâ bestows upon Walîs are called karâmat. Bedr-ad-dîn Serhendî writes in his book Hadarat-ul-quds that he has seen and heard of thousands of Imâmi-Rabbânî’s karâmats and relates more than a hundred of them. When the heart becomes fânî, that is, when (it attains a grade where) it remembers nothing, the brain, mind, memory, does not necessarily become oblivious of worldly matters. The heart, when it becomes fânî, still lets all the limbs, including the brain, mind, and memory, carry on all sorts of worldly activities, and a person in this state, like other people, goes on working for his worldly needs. He does all his human tasks and favours with the intention of obtaining the grace of Allâhu ta’âlâ. Whatever he does becomes dhikr. See the final part of the thirty-fourth chapter of the second fascicle of Endless Bliss! It fulfills all its human tasks and favours with the intention of obtaining the consent of Allâhu ta’âlâ. Whatever it does becomes dhikr.
Endless Bliss First Fasicle | Page 295-296
The source and even the best of pleasures here and in the Hereafter is to attain love and the grace of Allâhu ta’âlâ. To be close to Allâhu ta’âlâ means to attain His love. One’s spiritual closeness to Allâhu ta’âlâ means to attain His love. He who has attained this happiness is called Walî or ’Ârif. It is necessary to perform the fards to become a Walî. The fards entail holding a belief compatible with the faith taught by the Ahl as-Sunna savants, avoiding the harâms, performing the worships that are fard to do, and having love for the Muslims who are sâlih (one who is on the right path). It will not be useful, that is, there will be no rewards (thawâbs) for the worships performed without ikhlâs. Ikhlâs means to act only for the sake of Allâhu ta’âlâ, that is, in such a way that you will forget everything. Ikhlâs is obtained automatically by having love for nothing but Allâhu ta’âlâ. The case of having love only for Him in one’s heart is called tasfiya (purification in the heart), itmi’nân (ease of heart), or Fanâ-fillâh. The twenty-eighth âyat of Sûra Ra’d declares that it is possible for the heart to have itmi’nân only by dhikr (remembering Allâhu ta’âlâ) and by pondering over His greatness and blessings.
Endless Bliss First Fasicle | Page 294-295
We hear about some ignorant and idiotic people who are quite unaware of Islam’s beautiful ethical principles and human rights. They are wasting their lives at sports fields, beaches during the days and at places of amusement, indulging in luxuries, debaucheries and indecencies with girls and boys, or in music, gambling and alcohol, at nights. They are obtaining the money they need for their pleasures, completely disignoring the legitimacy of their earnings. With this eccentric, fraudulent and outrageous conduct of theirs, they harm not only themselves but also society, people, their lives and chastities. In their terminology irreligiousness and atheism are ‘progressive attitudes’ and ‘young people’s modernism’. They say that theirs is a way of life that a wise person would normally prefer. They boast about their behaviour and suppose that they are imitating Europeans and Americans by doing so. They stigmatize true and honest Muslims, who possess faith, belief and pure morals and who observe others’ rights, as bigots and fanatics. Thus they lull themselves into a false sense of self-complacency. Are all those Europeans and Americans unwise to be devoted to their religious beliefs and is being wise a characteristic peculiar to these people alone?
They do not realize that they are heading for damnation and inuring themselves to a habitude that will eventually offer them everlasting torment in return for a few years’ dissipation. Nor do they seem to take a lesson from history. Those who fall into their traps are only pitiable. People who have never heard of Islam will not go to Hell. Since they are not Muslims, they will not go to Paradise, either. They will cease to exist after the Day of Judgment, as will be the case with animals. A sound person, after learning science, biology, and astronomy, should study the religions and should select the Islamic religion, which corresponds with logic and science. Someone who fails to do so should still immediately become a Muslim as a result of fearing and trembling from the danger of being eternally burned in Hell, which is believed everywhere on the earth. If he still denies, then he does not follow logic.
Endless Bliss First Fasicle | Page 294
The only way to attain happiness here and in the Hereafter is to be a Muslim. And being a Muslim requires believing the facts such as that Allâhu ta’âlâ exists and is One, that He sees and knows everything, that He is the maker [creator] of everything, that Muhammad ‘’alaihis-salâm’ is the Prophet, that after death there will be everlasting blessings and a sweet life in a place called Jannat (Paradise) and an everlasting burning in a place called Jahannam (Hell), that Muslims will go to Jannat and non-Muslims, i.e. those who deny Islam after hearing about it, will burn eternally in Jahannam. More than ninety-per-cent of the world’s population, that is all Christians, all Jews, all politicians and statesmen in Europe and America, all scientists, commanders, brahmins, buddhists, fire-worshippers, and idolaters believe that we will rise after death and that there is everlasting torment in Hell.
Endless Bliss First Fasicle | Page 293-294
When we say that we love someone, it is understood that we have a figurative affection for him. All Muslims, regardless of whether they are ignorant Muslims, bid’at holders, or pure and faithful Muslims, love Rasûlullah in this manner. Affection that much will suffice for being a Muslim. To attain love that will facilitate the reception of fayd, one must learn and love his words, actions, behaviour and morals. Someone is obeyed when he is loved in the full sense; he will be followed in every matter. A person will forget everything else if the love he has is powerful. This type of forgetting is called (Fanâ-i qalb). He will even forget himself. The forgetting of the self is also called (Fanâi nafs). In Makâtîb-i Sherîfa, in the 90th letter, it is stated that “When Fanâ-i qalb is attained, the hâtira (thinking of creatures) will not stay in the heart. But they still stay in mind. When Fanâ-yi nafs is attained, they will leave mind, too. Only the ahl-i tasawwuf can understand this writing of ours. It is not learned by being educated in high schools or universities.” So, when Fanâ is attained, that is, when an ’ârif is loved very much, fayd, lights, and sacred blessings, which are coming to that ’ârif from Rasûlullah, ‘sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam’ flow toward the heart of these lovers and they attain real ikhlâs. Hence, they enjoy worshipping, and they obtain the grace of Allâhu ta’âlâ. After this stage, “Fanâfir-Rasûl” will be obtained; that is, by deeply loving Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam’, a person receives fayd directly from his blessed heart. In this case, he no longer needs a murshid (a spiritual guide).
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While fayds and blessings flow abundantly in sohbats, the second method will yield them only in drops. But, only a single drop of it is more valuable and delicious than all earthly earnings. Visiting his grave will cause an increase in the number of drops, but falling into the traps of lâ-madhhabîs, heretics, impostors, and false shaikhs causes a full stoppage of the drops. Connection between hearts and souls results from believing, loving, and desiring. If a Muslim attends the sohbat of a Walî, or establishes (râbita) with that Walî, that is, envisages his blessed figure and face with deep respect [before his heart’s vision], or if he learns his life and words and loves him, and weeps and thinks of him, fayd and ma’rifas in the heart of the Walî will flow into that Muslim’s heart. There are a lot of happy and lucky people who have matured in this way, by râbita only, and have become Walîs. They have informed us in hundreds of books about the blessings and high degrees they attained by this way. Allâhu ta’âlâ’s mercy and blessings in this respect will continue until doomsday.
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Muhammad Ma’thûm Fârûqî ‘rahmatullâhi ’alaih’ writes as follows in the hundred and forty-second letter of the third volume of his Maktûbât: “It is very good for you to come to the city of Serhend with the intention of making a visit to the qabr-i sherîf (honoured grave) of Imâm-i Rabbânî ‘quddisa sirruh’. You will obtain fayd and blessings here. You will profit from the lights and secrets coming from the source in Madîna-i Munawwara. Even though the darkness of kufr and wickedness in India blacken hearts and make souls sick; just as water in the darkness of the forest gives life to souls and cleans hearts, the city of Sarhand today is a place where fayds and lights, coming [through the blessed hearts of Awliyâ] from the source in Madîna-i munawwara, are emanating. You should not deem that place like the ones in India where there is kufr (disbelief) and oppression. This place is the door of [the way which leads someone to attain the grace of Allâhu ta’âlâ and whish is termed] Wilâyat.
The lights and secrets coming from the blessed heart of Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam’ are now springing here. Those who want to attain the grace of Allâhu ta’âlâ will receive, at the rate of their love for him, fayd and blessings by believing and visiting his grave. Most people living close to this blessed place are deprived of this blessing because they do not believe its value and underestimate it. People who enter a room where there is musk will smell a nice perfume. Even if you put musk inside the nose of a man who has a cold, he will not sense its smell.” The book (Tuhfat-ul-Ushshaq) informs us that some things are written in the book (Muzakkin-nufûs) by Eshrefzâda ’Abdullah Rûmî. Tuhfa is appended to the book entitled al-Munqidh.
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Attaining the grace and love of Allâhu ta’âlâ requires havig ikhlâs and a qalb-i selîm. Purification of the heart is possible only by believing Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’, by loving and being adherent to him. To do this, the shortest and easiest way is to know a Walî and to establish râbita with him, that is, to become attached to him by heart, provided that we learn the i’tiqâd (creed) of Ahl-i sunnat, the Ahkâm-i-islâmiyya, and manners of Tasawwuf from his words and books. A Walî is understood to be a Walî from a document given to him by his master in a written form, and from the conformity of all his words and actions to the Ahkâm-i-islâmiyya In times when such a Walî can not be seen, a person who establishes râbita with any Walî will become his Uwaysî. In the 286th letter of Maktûbat, it is stated: “Someone who has failed to attend the sohbats of an ’ârif may enjoy the luck of receiving fayd from the souls of the great men (of Tasawwuf). Allâhu ta’âlâ makes their souls a means for the progress of such people ’Ârifs and Walîs continue to give fayd to those who desire it even after they die, since they attained the good news declared in the hadîth-i qudsî,
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Walî means ‘an Ahl-i sunnat scholar who has attained the love and the grace of Allâhu ta’âlâ; and ‘The Ahl-i sunnat Madhhab’ means ‘the way shown by Qur’ân-al-kerîm and hadîths.’ The savants of the Ahl-i sunnat learned this way from the Ashâb-i kirâm. They respected not what they understood, but what they heard from the Ashâb-i kirâm. ‘To dissent from the Ahl-i sunnat’ means ‘to dissent from the right way of the Qur’ân and hadîths.’ Of these people, the ones who dissent from the Ahl-i sunnat and who misunderstand occult indications in the Qur’ân and in well-known hadîths, do not become kâfirs; they become holders of bid’at. They misguide unlearned people by passing their wrong and heretical interpretations of those indications as ‘The way shown by the Qur’ân’ and ‘The way guided by the Sahâba’.
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Let us mention also the fact that as each person has a different illness in his heart and soul, likewise everybody has a different property, a different tendency called “idiosyncracy: Uberempfindlickheit gegen bestimmte Reize.” Rasûlullah has not only communicated the diseases of the heart and its treatment, but he has also given hundreds of thousands of different kinds of facts regarding individuals, families, societies, wars, and problems of inheritance, that is, all kinds of matters pertaining to this world and the next. It is next to impossible for us, ignorant people, who do not know our own illness or its medicine, to pick out the one which is suitable for us of these hadîths. It is stated in the fifty-fourth letter of the second volume: “Hadîths have been forgotten by now. Bid’ats are widespread. True and false books have been mixed with one another. Murshid-i kâmils, being specialists of the heart and the soul, have picked out from these hadîths the spiritual medicines which are suitable for the nature of each individual, for his special illness, and for the time’s zulmat and fesâd.
Rasûlullah, being the chief doctor, prepared hundreds of thousands of medicines for the world’s pharmaceutical store. Awliyâ are like his assistant doctors who distribute these ready made medicines in accordance with the illnesses of the patients. Since we do not know our own illness or understand its appropriate treatment, if we attempt to look for a medicine for ourselves among hundreds of thousands of hadîths, we may, having an allergy, suffer harm instead of getting better, thus having our nemesis for being ignorant. It is for this reason that it was stated in a hadîth: “He who interprets the Qur’ân in accordance with his own understanding becomes a disbeliever.” Since lâ-madhhabîs and the like cannot understand this subtlety, they say, “Everybody should understand his faith by himself by reading the Qur’ân and hadîths. He should not read the books of the four Madhhabs.” By saying so they prevent the books of the Ahl-i sunnat savants from being read.
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Knowledge of the body has been learned from the four sources and has reached us through Fiqh books. Those who want to obey Rasûlullah must worship as taught in Fiqh books. The knowledge of the heart, which purifies the heart, the soul, and the nafs, has come to us by means of the hearts of the Awliyâ. Those who want to adapt themselves to Rasûlullah in the knowledge of the heart and soul, should stay near a Walî and acquire this knowledge from his heart. A Walî is a means, a path between the heart of a man and the blessed heart of Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam’. The knowledge of the heart is not obtained by reading books of Tasawwuf. The fountain and source of this knowledge is the hearts of ’ârifs. That this is the case is written also in the final part of the book entitled Themerât-ulfuâd. Each Sahâbî, in turn, conveyed the knowledge of the body and of the heart which he had obtained from Rasûlullah to those who requested for it. Muslims coming afterwards took the knowledge of the body from books of Fiqh and the knowledge of the heart from the hearts of murshids. Those who say, “I will learn the knowledge of the body directly from Rasûlullah’s utterances, that is, from the hadîth-i sherîfs,” have fallen into the traps of the nafs and the devil as a result of misunderstanding the meanings of hadîth-i-sherîfs. Likewise, those who say, “I will receive the knowledge of the heart directly from the heart of Rasûlullah,” have fallen into the traps of the nafs and the devil.
It is necessary to obtain knowledge of the body from the words or books of the Ahl-i sunnat savants, and knowledge of the heart from the hearts of savants who are alive or from their souls if they are dead. The experts of this knowledge, that is, the murshids and Walîs all expressed the same fact. The hadîth-i sherîfs contained in the book Kunûz-ud-deqâiq, such as, “A savant among his disciples is like a Prophet among his Ashâb” and “The superiority of a savant to his students is like the superiority of a Prophet to his ummat” and “Everything has a source. The source of taqwâ is the hearts of ’ârifs” and “To attend a class of Fiqh is better than worshipping for a year” and “Looking at the faces of savants is worshipping” are proofs for the facts we have written above. Allâhu ta’âlâ has promised that the Islamic religion will survive till the end of the world. He created the Ottoman Empire for the protection of the knowledge of the body and the Murshids for the perpetuation of the knowledge of the heart. The British State, Islam’s bitterest enemy, annihilated these two guardians after striving for centuries. Allâhu ta’âlâ is creating new guardians and Islam is going along its way.
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The religious knowledge conveyed by Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam’ falls into two categories: knowledge of the body and knowledge of the heart. It was his duty to teach his Ashâb the knowledge of the body, which included all the tenets of îmân and teachings pertaining to acts of worship that the heart has to believe and which have to be done and those which have to be practised with the body or avoided. He taught all of them personally and directly. The spiritual teachings that pertain to the heart and which are termed Ma’rifat and Tasawwuf, like the rays of the sun, emanated continuously from his blessed heart and spread out in all directions. Each Sahabî attained a certain portion of fayd coming [flowing] to his heart in proportion to his ability and talent. Because they had very strong affection for the Messenger of Allah, in no time they attained as much of the nûr radiated as their capacity allowed. And the nûrs which they attained, in their turn, hastened the formation of ikhlâs in them and enhanced the already existing amount.
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Imâm-i Rabbânî ‘quddisa sirruh’, in his 260th letter says, “Fayds, nûrs, which are in the heart of a murshid, like sunlight, shine on everybody. They flow towards the hearts of those Muslims who love him and who adapt themselves to the Ahkâm-i-islâmiyya. They are unaware of the reception of these fayds. They don’t understand that their hearts are purified. Like a watermelon maturing under the light of the sun, they reach maturity. The Ashâb-i kirâm ‘ridwânullâhi ta’âlâ ’alaihim ajma’în’ matured and attained perfection during the sohbats of Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’. The worst obstruction preventing Muslims from receiving fayd is being a bid’at holder.” In his 61st letter, he says: “The most harmful thing that destroys people’s willingness to attain Ma’rifat of Allâhu ta’âlâ is religious leaders who are ignorant and mendacious. Their books and words blacken the heart. Those who fall into their traps are similar to invalids going to a sham and ignorant doctor.”
The most apparent distinction between a real Walî and a counterfeit shaikh is that a real Walî has wara’ and taqwâ. (Taqwâ) means believing in accordance with the Ahl-i sunnat i’tiqâd and abstaining from the harâms. Abstaining also from those things which are doubtful is called (wara’). Ahl-i sunnat savants were all owners of wara’ and taqwâ. In a hadîth-i sherîf, quoted in the one hundred and twelfth letter of the book (Maktûbât) by Muhammad Ma’thûm ‘rahmatullahi ’alaih’, it is declared: “It is an act of worship to sit with an owner of wara’.” Islamic savants wrote many books in which they explained things that cause kufr, those which are harâm and those which are doubtful. The book (al-Kabâir) by Ibni Nujaym-i Misrî is a famous book. Its Turkish translation was published in 1304 in Istanbul. In the book Küfr ve Kebâir (Disbelief and Grave Sins), written by Sayyid ’Abdulhakîm Arwâsî, three hundred and three grave sins and hundred and eleven acts of kufr are listed.
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Imâm-i Gazâlî ‘rahmatullâhi ’alaih’, at the end of his book (Ayyuhal Walad), says: “Every Muslim is in need of an education from a murshid. A murshid, by training him, saves him from bad habits. He supplants good habits in the place of bad ones. Education is similar to a farmer’s efforts to make the plantation on his land strong and improved by cleaning away harmful weeds. Allâhu ta’âlâ sent Prophets ‘’alaihim-us-salâm’ to show his creatures the correct path. He created murshids to represent the Prophets after their death. The signs of a murshid is as follows...”
The Arabic original of this book and its Turkish and French translations are published by Hakîkat Kitâbevi (bookstore). Since a Walî knows better and is strongly tied to Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam’, he receives fayds from his blessed heart, and these fayds are directed towards the hearts of those adherent to that Walî. [Hearts receiving fayds become clean. They attain good morals.]
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Question: Since no Murshid-i kâmil has been seen after the first half of the fourteenth century of the Hegira, why don’t we attach our heart to the heart of Rasûlullah, and thereby receive his strong nûr, instead of attaching our heart to the hearts of past Walîs by reading their words and thus knowing them? Besides, isn’t it an essential of îmân to be attached to him, that is, to believe and love him? Answer: No doubt it is better to follow Rasûlullah directly ‘sallAllâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam’, and after his passing, to follow his holy soul. In fact, this is even necessary and wâjib. In the 81st letter of the book (Mekâtîb-i sherîfa), it states: “Thinking of a Walî as an eyeglass, we should look at Rasûlullah and Allâhu ta’âlâ through this eyeglass.” To find a Walî or his books, to know him, to do râbita with him is actually for the purpose of becoming attached to the sacred soul of Rasûlullah ‘sallAllâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam’.
By merely reading or hearing about a person, it is difficult for one to dream of his figure or his physiognomy, since one has never seen him before. Not the desired one, but someone else may be seen in this case. That is why râbita is not practised with Rasûlullah. It would be kufr to believe someone else to be Rasûlullah. There is no such danger when practising râbita with the Awliyâ. A person who practises râbita with a murshid-i kâmil will have with the heart looked into his blessed heart. Therein, he will see the blessed heart of Rasûlullah. Thus, he will have practised râbita with Rasûlullah. This is the only way the ignorant, the heedless, like us, do râbita with Rasûlullah. Through this kind of râbita, after receiving fayd from Rasûlullah, it will be possible and easy to practise râbita directly with him, and to receive fayd from the graves of Awliya and from their souls. A person who practises râbita with Rasûlullah and receives fayd from him loves him very much.
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It is written in Irshâd-ut-tâlibîn: “When a Murshid-i kâmil dies, he does not stop giving fayd. He gives more. But, men’s contact with the dead is unlike their contact with the living. For this reason, little fayd is received from the soul of a dead one. Those who have reached Fanâ and Baqâ have extensive relations with a dead one, almost as well as when he was alive. Therefore, they get much fayd; yet still they get more when the latter is alive. Murshids facilitate those in their company to adhere to the Ahkâm-i islâmiyya, and inspire them with love and respect through all their manners and words, thus causing them to receive more fayd.” As is seen, it is necessary to look for a murshid. Though a faithful and pure Muslim can receive fayd from the Awliyâ, dead or alive, the living Awliyâ will instruct him on the tasks that he has to do. He will correct his faults, thus it will become for him easy to receive much more fayd. On the contrary, the dead cannot say anything. They cannot show him the way. They cannot correct his faults. His receiving fayd dwindles and eventually comes to an end.
He cannot be taught through inspiration or dreams by the dead. Delusion, fancy or the devil may interfere in the inspirations and dreams. And the inspirations and dreams in which they do not interfere may be connotative and in need of an explanation; the correct ones cannot be distinguished from the false ones. The gain may be very valuable, but the loss will be much more dangerous. Nevertheless, in case a person cannot find a true murshid, he should not fall into the traps of false and ignorant murshids. Rather, he should try to receive fayd from the souls of the dead ones. For attaining this, it is necessary to have the Ahl-i sunnat belief and to obey the Ahkâm-i-islâmiyya, to read books written by real scholars, and to make sohbat with those who read the books of true Islamic savants. A little child likes its mother best and trusts in her. When it becomes wise enough, it trusts its father more, relies on him and gets use from him. When it begins going to school or to work, it adheres to its teacher or master and gets use from him. Allah’s divine way is so. Likewise, the earnings of the soul are acquired first through parents and then through the murshid and then through Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’.
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Hadrat Sayyid Sherîf Jurjânî, one of the great savants of the Hanafî Madhhab, writes at the end of Sharh-i mawâqif and at the beginning of Hâshiyatu Sharh-ul-matâlî’ and in Berîqa, p.270, the figures of the Awliyâ show themselves to their murîds even after their death and give them fayd. To see them and receive fayd is not easy; it is necessary to hold the belief of Ahl as-sunnat by learning it from books, to obey the Ahkâm-i-islâmiyya, and to like and to respect the Awliyâ.
It is written in the book Maraj-ul-bahrayn: “All great men of Tasawwuf were Sunnî Muslims, None of the holders of bid’at attained the Ma’rifat of Allâhu ta’âlâ. The nûr of Wilâyat did not enter their hearts. The darkness of bid’ats, in practices pertaining to worship as well as in tenets of belief, prevented the nûr of Wilâyat from entering their hearts. Unless the dirt of bid’at is removed from the heart, and if the heart is not ornamented with the Ahl-i sunnat belief, the rays of the sun of haqîqat will not enter the heart. Such a heart will not be illuminated by the nûr of yaqîn.”
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A fortunate person who reads and understands the book Se’âdet-i Ebediyye[1] will both learn religious knowledge and get to [1] i.e. the six fascicles of Endless Bliss.know Imâm-i Rabbânî; thus, his heart becoming inclined, he will become attached to him. Receiving the nûr which he (Imâm-i Rabbânî) radiates over the world, he will, unknown to himself, begin to approach perfection. As an unripe watermelon ripens and sweetens under the rays of the sun, so will he mature, thus becoming a perfect person. He will note the changes in his views of the world and life. He will begin to experience some hâls, dhawqs and sweet dreams.
He will begin to dream of Imâm-i Rabbânî and of the other Awliyâ, of the Ashâb-i kirâm and of Rasûlullah, to see their faces when awake, and even to talk with them. His nafs being freed from unawareness, he will begin to experience the taste of salât and to take pleasure from worshipping. He will now hate sins, things that are harâm and bad habits. He will form good habits. He will do favours to everybody. He will be useful for society, for people. He will attain, and will also make others attain, eternal felicity.
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Sultân Mahmûd Ghaznawî, the founder of the Ghaznawî Empire, which was a great Islamic empire, was born in 357 and died in 421 A.H. in Ghazna. One day, this great emperor of Asia visited Hadrat Abul-Hasan-i Kharqânî, one of the higher ones of the Awliyâ. In the course of their conversation, he asked him, “What kind of a person was your leader Bâyazîd-i Bistâmî?” Hadrat Shaikh answered him, “Bâyazîd was such a perfect Walî that those who saw him attained the right way. They joined people loved by Allâhu ta’âlâ.” Sultan Mahmûd did not like this answer. He said, “People such as Abû Jahl and Abû Lahab saw Rasûlullah, the Sayyid of the universe, many times. Despite this fact, they did not come round to the right course. How can you say that those who saw your shaikh came round to the right course?”
He meant to say, “Was your shaikh higher than our Sayyid, Rasûlullah? Do you mean to say that those who saw your shaikh escaped disbelief, while those who saw Hadrat Muhammad, Sayyid of both worlds, the most superior of the superiors, Allah’s beloved Prophet, did not escape it?” Hadrat Abul Hasan said, “The idiots Abû Jahl and Abû Lahab did not see Allah’s beloved Prophet, our Master Muhammad, who is the highest of mankind. They saw Muhammad, who was the orphan of Abû Tâlib, and the son of ’Abdullah. They saw him from that point of view. If they had seen him as Abû Bakr Siddîq did, they would have escaped disbelief, thus attaining perfection like him. Allâhu ta’âlâ, to point out this subtlety, declared in the one hundred and ninety-seventh âyat of Sûrat-ul-A’râf: “You see them look at you. They cannot understand you. They do not see your superiority.” Sultân Mahmûd Khân ‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’alaih’ liked this answer very much. His respect and love for religious savants increased.
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The Ashâb-i kirâm (the companions of the Prophet) and the Tâbi’în-i izâm (people who saw the Ashâb-i kiram) are called Salaf-i sâlihîn. The Ahl-as-Sunna savants who succeeded them and who lived until the end of the four hundredth year of the Hegira are called Halaf-i sâdiqîn. Halaf-i sâdiqîn always followed the Salaf-i sâlihîn in the knowledge pertaining to faith, deeds and heart; they never deviated from the way of the Salaf-i sâlihîn. It appeared to be impossible to see insân-i-kâmils (perfect guides) after the year fourteen hundred, just as was the fact that there had been no mutlaq mujtahids (absolute mujtahids) left after the year four hundred.
Until Doomsday, however, there will be mujaddids ‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’alaihim ajma’în’, who may not have attained the grades of Awliyâ or mujtahids, on the earth. These mujaddids will spread the books of the mujtahids all over the world and restore the teachings of the Ahl as-Sunna and the right way, which will have been forgotten by people. They will answer the slanders and lies of the people of bid’at (heretics), false men of Tasawwuf, zindîqs, and impostors of science and religion, with whom the entire world will be rife. People who find and read the books of the mujaddids will attain happiness in this world and in the Hereafter.
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He who does his best to attain love of Allâhu ta’âlâ is called a Sâlih. He who has already attained this love is called an ’Ârif or Walî. He who is a means for others to attain love of Allâhu ta’âlâ is called a Murshid. These three people are called Sâdiq. It is purported in the thirty-first âyat of Sûra-t-u-Âl-i-’Imrân: “Tell them!: ‘If you love Allâhu ta’âlâ, adapt yourselves to me! For, Allâhu ta’âlâ loves people who adapt themselves to me.’ ” The symptom of loving Allâhu ta’âlâ is to adapt oneself to His Messenger. To adapt oneself (to His Messenger) means to obey His commandments and prohibitions. His commandments and prohibitions are called Ahkâm-i-islâmiyya. A person who claims to love Allâhu ta’âlâ has to adapt himself to Islam. A person who – 282 –has adapted himself to Islam is called a Muslim. Allâhu ta’âlâ has commanded Muslims to love one another, and not to love disbelievers, munâfiqs, and murtadds. Consequently, it has become an essential of îmân to love people who love Allâhu ta’âlâ, which is called hubb-i-fillah (love for the sake of Allah), and not to love enemies of Allâhu ta’âlâ, which is called bughd-i-fillah (hostility for the sake of Allah). A non-Muslim is called a kâfir (disbeliever, unbeliever).
A person who reneges on Islam and becomes a non-Muslim is called a murtadd (renegade, apostate). An unbeliever who pretends to be a Muslim although he is a non Muslim is called a munâfiq. It is one of the essentials of îmân (being a Believer) to dislike these three people, all of them. It is purported in the hundred and twentieth âyat of the Sûrat-ut Tawba in the Qur’ân: “O Believers! Always, at all times be in company of Sâdiqs!” This âyat-i kerîma commands doing the râbita. It is declared in a hadîth: “All the blessings and nûr which Allâhu ta’âlâ poured into my heart, I have poured them into Abû Bakr’s heart.” Because Abû Bekr ‘radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anh’ was ahead of all others in taqwâ and worshipping and because he realized better than anyone else did how great Rasûlullah was so that he himself was a mere nothing when compared with the Messenger of Allah, and because he won Rasûlullah’s love more than anyone else did, more fayds came to him than did to anyone else and he received all the fayds coming. As is understood from these and the like, our religion asks us to keep company with the Awliyâ, and to learn Rasûlullah’s path from them.
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The heart is dependent both upon the nafs and upon the sense organs and is attached to things which the sense organs are preoccupied with. When man sees something lovely, hears a beautiful voice, or tastes something sweet, the heart becomes attached to them. Man cannot help this attachment. Also, when man reads something beautiful, the heart becomes attached to the author and its meaning. By ‘beautiful and sweet’, ‘what comes beautiful and sweet to the heart’ is meant. Most of the time, man cannot identify real beauty. He confuses what appears beautiful to the nafs with what appears beautiful to the rûh. If the heart is sound, it recognizes beauty and loves it. Valuable things such as âyats, hadîths, words of the Awliyâ, prayers, and tesbîhs are originally beautiful. They are very sweet. The heart, after its attachment to the nafs decreases and it is released from the bondage of the nafs, it will love them too. When a man reads or hears them, his heart becomes attached to them without his awareness of it. When this person reads the Qur’ân al-kerîm or listens to it being read or makes dhikr, his heart loves Allâhu ta’âlâ.
To release the heart from the bondage, from the oppression of the nafs, it is necessary to oppress the nafs and strengthen the heart. This is possible only by obeying Rasûlullah. If a person who has released his heart from the paws of his nafs by following Muhammad ‘’alaihis-salâm’ observes a Walî, he will realize that he is a beloved born slave of Allah and a (spiritual) heir to the Messenger of Allah. Since he loves Allah very much, he will also love very much whomever Allah loves. But loving is not easy. Many people have ended up in perdition as a result of confusing things loved by the nafs with real beauties loved by the soul (rûh).
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Suppose we put a mirror against the sun, a second mirror against this, a third one against the second one, and a fourth one against it...; the sun will be seen in each of the thirty mirrors put in such an order. For, each mirror reflects the sun to the other. By the same token, the heart of each of the Ashâb-i kirâm ‘’alaihimurridwân’ was brightened like a mirror by the nûr radiated by the blessed heart of Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allahu ’alaihi wa sallam’. Seeing his beautiful moral qualities, hearing his sweet words, witnessing his mu’jizas, and watching his luminous face, they loved him very much. They tried to be like him in everything they did. Each of them would have sacrificed his life upon one signal on his part. By spreading abundant nûr, which they thus received, to the young hearts attached to them, they purified these hearts.
This nûr was passed from these hearts to those of other youngsters who were attached to them. Thus, for thirteen hundred years, being radiated by the hearts of the Awliyâ, his same nûr purified the hearts attached to these hearts and thereby brightened them like mirros. That is, the eyes of their hearts were opened. The fortunate people who were blessed with this lot were called Walî or Awliyâ (those whom Allah loves). Mazhar-i Jân-i Jânân, the ‘Qutb’ of his time and a great Walî, says: “I attained all of what I gained by loving my murshids (religious teachers) very much. The key to all kinds of happiness is to love those whom Allah loves.” And Hadrat ’Alî Râmitenî ‘radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ sirrahul’azîz’ says: “The hearts of people who devoted themselves to Allah are nazarghâh-i-ilâhî, (i.e. place where Allâhu ta’âlâ turns His Attention to.) People who have managed to enter those hearts will get a share from that Attention.”
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Electricity is conducted through copper wires. The sender and the receiving set of a radio are attached to each other through electromagnetic waves. It is written in the twentieth letter of the fourth volume of the book Maktûbât that what attaches hearts to one another is love. When a person sees a Walî and talks with him or reads his books, he loves him, seeing that he adheres to Islam perfectly, that his knowledge is like an ocean, that he has excellent morals, and that he does favours to everyone. Since he loves Rasûlullah, he also loves the person who is in his way. But, loving these good characteristics of his is not sufficient. He has to know very well and love the owner of these good characteristics. For, hypocrites, disbelievers, and freemasons can have the same good qualities, too.
So, it is necessary to know that he is a murshid, to recognize his face, figure and physiognomy. It must be a pleasure for one to see and dream of him by heart. This is called performing râbita. By always performing râbita towards him, it will be as if he were seeing him. Everything that has an effect on sense organs has an effect on the heart, too. As seeing something beautiful has an effect on the heart, so thinking of it will have an effect on the heart and the heart will enjoy it. That is, performing râbîta will be like being with him. The more the love, the more light will he receive. Hadrat ’Ubeydullah-i Ahrâr said: “While attaching the heart to property, to goods and to every kind of worldly affairs is not considered a crime, why should it be a crime to attach the heart to a Mu’min (Muslim)?”
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By “the heart,” we do not mean the piece of flesh on the left hand side of our chest, which also is called “heart,” and which animals have, too. The heart proper to man is different. The heart is an invisible force. It is noticed through its effects. An electric current is not seen, either. But, because it causes the resistance wire to radiate light by heating it up when it passes through the bulb, we understand that it exists in the bulb. However, electricity is not matter. It does not occupy a place. And the force which we call “the heart” is not matter, either. It does not occupy a place. Since its effects are seen in a piece of flesh, which also is called the “heart,” we say that its place is in the heart.
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As we now know, ultraviolet rays kill microbes. Tuberculous patients have their lungs cleaned through radio therapy in sanitariums. As ultraviolet rays clean the lungs, likewise, there are rays that clean the heart. These rays are called nûr and fayz. The heart’s sickness is its following the nafs, liking and being fond of the harâms. The sun radiates ultraviolet rays. And the source that radiates nûr is the heart of a Walî. The hearts of the Awliyâ are like full moon. The moon reflects the rays which it receives from the sun. And the hearts of the Awliyâ radiate to the world the nûr which they receive from Rasûlullah’s blessed heart, which radiates energy like the sun. The Awliyâ are dead. And the ones living today are not known. But, when man dies, his heart and soul do not die with him. In fact, they become stronger because they have gotten rid of the cage of the body. Today, there are electro-magnetic waves everywhere, in every room. But we do not perceive them. A receiver, e.g. a radio, is necessary to receive them.
Also, there are rays of nûr everywhere. But we do not perceive them, either. Some force or some means is necessary to receive them and to make use of them. Again this receiver is the heart. The heart is like a substance with phosphorescent properties. Dispensing nûr it has received, to dark hearts, it causes them to shine. The longer a Believer lives and the better he becomes in worshipping and taqwâ, the more nûrs will his heart contain. However, receiving these nûrs and fayds abundantly requires loving a Walî. And if he brings himself into favour with him by attending his sohbat and keeping him company, he will receive even more fayd.
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Useful things providing men with a healthy, salutary, comfortable and cheerful life (in this world) and endless happiness in the Hereafter are called Ni’met (blessing). Allâhu ta’âlâ, being very compassionate, created all the blessings His born slaves would need. And through His heavenly books, which He revealed to His Prophets, He instructed us on how we should use and utilize them. These instructions are called Dîn. If any person, Muslim and disbeliever alike, leads a life in conformity with these books, he will enjoy comfort and peace in the world. A drugstore carries hundreds of medicines. And each of these medicines has a set of instructions packed with it. A person who uses the medicine as it is prescribed in the instructions will benefit from it. He who does not follow the instructions will suffer harm. Likewise, a person who lives compatibly with the Qur’ân al-kerîm will benefit from the blessings. It is necessary to be a Muslim so that you can attain happiness in this world and in the Hereafter, while living peacefully and joyfully. One who has faith and performs his acts of worship is called a Muslim. Having faith means to believe in six certain essentials and all of the commandments and prohibitions. Allâhu ta’âlâ is pleased with those who are true Muslims.
A true Muslim is loved by Allâhu ta’âlâ. Being a true Muslim requires you to have the faith taught by the Ahl-as-Sunna savants, and to worship correctly and sincerely. Allâhu ta’âlâ has promised that He will love such people, that He will inspire fayds and nûrs into their hearts in the world and that in the Hereafter He will give thawâb (blessings) as a reward for the acts of worship performed correctly and sincerely. Worshipping means doing the commands (fards) and taqwâ means avoiding the prohibitions (harâms). Performing an act of worship correctly requires learning how it is to be done, and performing it by following the instructions you have learned. Ikhlâs means to do every act of worship for the grace of Allâhu ta’âlâ only. Worshipping Allâhu ta’âlâ is done by giving away one’s property and by worshipping physically. For example, performing pious and charitable deeds, saving Muslims from trouble, remembering Allâhu ta’âlâ, and asking for forgiveness (tawba) are all forms of worship. There is no ikhlâs (sincerity) but riyâ (hypocrisy) in the worship which is done to obtain property, rank, respect or fame. Such worship is not rewarded with blessings. It will be a sin and a cause for being tormented. Dark stains develop in the hearts of those who commit harâms or bid’a (heresy), and also in the hearts of those who are the friends or neighbours of disbelievers or lâ-madhhabî individuals.
Imâm-i Rabbânî ‘rahmatullâhi ’alaih’ says in the fifty-ninth letter of the first volume of his book Maktûbât: “When beginning any worship, all Muslims must keep in their minds the intention of performing an act for Allâhu ta’âlâ’s grace. Allâhu ta’âlâ has ordered them to do so, and He loves it. Hence, they will perform that act sincerely. However, all good deeds and favours should be done with sincerity (Ikhlâs), and this sincerity must come immediately from the heart. A good intention and ikhlâs are obtained with difficulty and by disciplining oneself, and the results are never permanent. Gradually the desires of the nafs settle in the heart. Owners of permanent ikhlâs are called Mukhlâs. Those who have inconstant ikhlâs and who strive to obtain ikhlâs are called Mukhlis. It is easy and sweet for a mukhlâs to worship. This is because there are no desires of the nafs or anxiety from the devil in their hearts. This kind of ikhlâs can only come into one’s heart through the heart of a Walî.” While beginning to worship one can obtain inconstant ikhlâs by fighting against one’s nafs and the devil. Doing worships with this ikhlâs causes the nafs to become weak in process of time...
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Europeans have derived most of their scientific knowledge and its basis from Islamic books. While Europeans assumed that the earth was flat like a tray surrounded by a wall, Muslims had known that the earth was spherical and was rotating. This fact is written in detail in the books Sharh-i Mawâqif and Ma’rifatnâma. They measured the length of the meridian in the open plain of Sinjar between Mûsul and Diyâr-i Bekr, finding the result as it is found today. Nûr-ud-dîn Batrûjî, who passed away in 581 [1185 A.D.], was a professor of astronomy at the Islamic University of Andalusia. He wrote today’s astronomy in his book al-Hayât.
When Galileo, Copernicus and Newton said that the earth rotated after learning this fact from Islamic books, they were deemed guilty for their words. Galileo was judged and imprisoned by priests. Until the Tanzîmât (reforms of ’Abdulmejîd in 1839), scientific lessons had been being taught in madrasas. Enlightened men of religion had been being educated. They had been guiding the world. When scientific lessons were abrogated, explorations and inventions stopped. The West began to gain on the East. Today, we will learn our religion from the books of those great savants. Religious knowledge can be learned from the Ahl-i Sunnat savants or from their books. It cannot be acquired through kashf or inspiration. He who reads their books will both learn knowledge, and his heart will be purified.
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Another Islamic savant was Imâm-i Rabbânî Ahmad-i Fârûqî. It has been unanimously stated by religious authorities that his depth in religious knowledge, his high grade in ijtihâd, and especially his perfection in Tasawwuf were above mind’s ability to comprehend. The books that have appeared recently in the United States have begun to be illuminated by the rays of this sun of happiness. Imâm-i Rabbânî ‘rahmatullâhi ’alaih’ was specialized in the scientific knowledge of his time, too. In the two hundred and sixty-sixth letter of the first volume of his book Maktûbat, he writes: “My son Muhammad Ma’thûm has recently completed reading the book Sharh-i Mawâqif. During his lessons, he has understood well the errors and the defects of the Greek philosophers. He has learned many facts.” This is a scientific book and has been taught until recently in the high (university) division of Islamic madrasas.
Mawâqif was written by Qâdî ’Adûd and this, (that is, the book mentioned above by Imâm-i-Rabbânî), is the revision of it by Sayyid Sherîf Alî Jurjânî [740-816 A.H. (1336-1413 A.D.)]. A great Arabic work of about a thousand pages, it explains all the scientific knowledge of that time. The book is divided into six parts, each of which contains different sections. In the second paragraph of the third chapter of the first section of the fourth part, it proves that the earth is spherical, and in the sixth paragraph, it proves that it rotates from west to east. It also gives valuable information about atoms, various states of matter, forces and psychological events.
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Religiously ignorant people cannot attack Islam through cleanliness, either. When some youngsters among the Tâbi’în asked the Ashâb-i kirâm ‘ridwânullâhi ta’âlâ ’alaihim ajma’în’, “Allâhu ta’âlâ loves you. He praises you in the Qur’ân al-kerîm. What is the reason for this love? Tell us, and we will be like you, so that He will love us, too,” they answered, “He loves us because we have been extra careful about being clean.”
Allâhu ta’âlâ declares at various parts of the Qur’ân al-kerîm: “I like cleanly people.” A person who has seen the beautiful and luminous face of Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ is called a “Sahâbî.” When there are more than one of them, they are called “Ashâb.” Those who did not see the Most Beautiful but who saw a Sahâbî are called “Tâbi’în. Muslims do not enter mosques or houses with their shoes on. Therefore, the floors and carpets are clean and dustless. Every Muslim has a bath in his home. His body, his underwears, and his food are always clean. Therefore, they don’t have microbes or diseases. There is no bath in the palace of Versaille, which the French boast about to the world. Disbelievers are dirty.
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The enemies cannot attack through medical science, either. Our Prophet ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ praised medical science in various ways. For example, he stated: “Knowledge is of two kinds: physical knowledge and religious knowledge.” That is, by saying that the most necessary kinds of knowledge are religious knowledge, which will protect the soul, and knowledge of health, which will protect the body, he declared that first of all it is necessary to try to keep the soul and the body healthy. This hadîthi-sherîf is written in the three hundred and eighty-first page of the book Riyâd-un-nâsihîn, which also writes that it has been quoted from the book Zubda-tul-akhbâr. There are also scholars who say that these are the words of Imâm-i Shâfi’î ‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’alaih’. Every word of this great imâm is an explanation of âyat-i kerîmas and hadîth-i sherîfs. Islam commands us to learn physical knowledge before religious knowledge. For, all kinds of virtuous deeds can be done with a healthy body. As is taught in all universities today, medical science is of two sections: the first one is hygiene, that is, the protection of health; the second one is therapeutics, the treatment of diseases. The first one is of primary importance. It is the first task of medical science to protect people against diseases, to safeguard their health. For the most part, a diseased person remains damaged and unhealthy, even if he is cured. Islam has guaranteed and ensured hygiene, the first task of medical science. In the second part of Mawâhib-i ladunniyya, it is proved through âyat-i-kerîmas that the Qur’ân-al-kerîm recommends both sections of medical science. Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ used to correspond with Heraclius, the Greek Byzantine emperor. They used to exchange messages. We can read the words and the letters of both parties in books. The originals of the letters exist in the two hundred and thirty eighth page of the Turkish translation of Mawâhib-i ladunniyya.
As the names of the ambassadors, together with their biographies and many events are obvious, who on earth, both learned and considerate, will say that these are lies, thirteen hundred years later? Their hostility towards the religion, their grudge against our Sayyid Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ must have covered their minds and ravaged their discernment to the extent that they cannot see the events, proofs or documents; so they do not hesitate to openly lie in order to deceive youngsters. Lying and slandering will disgrace, dishonour one in front of everybody! O our Allah! Your justice is very correct. Those who attack Islam, and thereby attack the comfort and peace of others, deserve eternal torment! Once, Heraclius sent a few presents. One of these presents was a doctor.
The doctor came to Rasûlullah and said, “Sir, His Excellency sent me to serve you. I will examine your patients free of charge.” Rasûlullah accepted him. He ordered the Muslims to give him a home, and it was carried out. Every day they brought him delicious food and drinks. Days, months passed, but no Muslim visited the doctor. Ashamed, the doctor came to Rasûlullah and said, “Sir, I came here to serve you. Up to now, no patient has visited me. I have just sat idly, eating and drinking. Let me go back now.” Upon his request, Rasûlullah smiled and said, “It is up to you! If you would like to stay longer, it is the first duty of a Muslim to serve a guest, to show honour to him. If you would like to go, good luck! Only, let it be known that nobody will visit you if you stay here for years, since my Ashâb do not become ill! The Islamic religion has shown the way of how not to become sick. My Ashâb are extra careful about cleanliness They do not eat anything before getting hungry, and they leave the meal table before becoming satiated with food.”
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religiously ignorant people cannot attack Islam through knowledge, medical science, cleanliness, or morals, they assault by means of base and cowardly lies and slanders. How could Islam ever be defied through knowledge? Islam is the very essence of knowledge. Many parts of the Qur’ân al-kerîm command knowledge and praise men of knowledge. For example, it is purported in the ninth âyat of Sûrat-uz-Zum’ar: “Is it possible that he who knows and he who does not know be the same? He who knows is certainly valuable!” Rasûlullah’s ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ statements praising and recommending knowledge are so numerous and so famous that even our enemies know about them. For example, in the books Ihyâ-ul-’ulûm and Mawdû’ât-ul- ’ulûm, the following hadîth is written in a section stating the value of knowledge: “Acquire knowledge even if it is in China!” That is, “Go and learn knowledge, even if it is at the farthest place in the world and in the possession of disbelievers! Do not say, ‘I don’t want it; it is invented by disbelievers’.” And it is stated in another hadîth-i-sherîf:
“Study and learn knowledge from cradle to grave!” That is, an old man of eighty, one of whose feet is already in the grave, should sudy. It is an act of worship for him to learn. And once he stated: “Work for the next world as if you were to die tomorrow, and work for the world as if you would never die.” He stated in a hadîh-i-sherîf: “Little worship done with knowledge is better than much worship done without understanding.” Once he stated: “The devil is more afraid of a savant than of thousands of ignorant worshippers.” A Muslim woman cannot go on supererogatory hajj without taking her husband’s leave; she cannot set out on a journey or pay a visit, either. However, she can go out for the purpose of learning without his permission, if he does not teach her or allow her to learn. As is seen, though it is sinful for her to go on hajj without permission, which is a great act of worship liked by Allâhu ta’âlâ, it is not sinful to go out to learn without permission. Then how can disbelievers ever attack Islam through knowledge? Will knowledge blame knowledge?
Of course not; it will like, praise it. He who attacks Islam on the knowledge front will suffer a defeat. They cannot attack through science, either. ‘Science’ means ‘to see creatures and events, to observe and understand them, and to experiment and make the like.’ These three are commanded by the Qur’ân al-kerîm. It is fard-i kifâya to study scientific knowledge, arts, and to try to make the most up-to-date arms of war. Our religion commands us to work more than our enemies do. We quoted one of Rasûlullah’s very vivid statements commanding us to study science in one of the initial pages of our book. Then, Islam is a dynamic religion commanding us to study science, experiment, and to do positive work.
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Allâhu ta’âlâ created Paradise and Hell. He declared that He will fill them both. A great many human beings and genies will go to Hell. But he will put most of the creatures into Paradise, thus His mercy will exceed His wrath. Genies are more than ten times as many as human beings, and angels are more than ten times as – 268 –many as genies. Since all the angels will be in Paradise, creatures in Paradise will be more numerous. Who will remain in Hell eternally? Those who do not perform salât? Those who commit sins? No! The enemies of Allâhu ta’âlâ will burn eternally in Hell. The Muslims who committed sins are not Allah’s enemies. They are guilty human beings. They are like a naughty, guilty child. Will parents become an enemy towards their naughty child? Hell consists of seven levels. The first level is the least vehement. But it is seventy times as vehement as worldly fire. Its name is Jahannam. Here, a group of the Muslims will be purfied of their sins. Heretical people will certainly be burned in Hell for some time.
Kâdî Zâde Ahmed Emîn Bey, who revised the book Vasiyyetnâme by Imâm-i Muhammed Birgivî, says: “The Muslim who will get out of Hell last will have burned for seven thousand years with the time measurement of the Hereafter. One year of the Hereafter is as long as a thousand worldly years.” The second level of Hell is more vehement. Its name is Sa’îr, People who interpolated the Torah will burn there [Ibni ’Âbidîn]. These people do not believe in Hadrat Îsâ (Jesus), who is Allah’s Prophet, and they slander this great Prophet by saying, “the son of an unknown father.” They changed the Tawrât, thus defiling Allah’s book, and after Hadrat Mûsâ, they martyred one thousand Prophets who were sent to advise them. People who changed the Bible will burn in the lower third level of Hell called “Seqar” which is more vehement. For, they did not follow Hadrat Îsâ’s commands and denied him by interpolating the Injîl (Bible). In addition, they have become worse than Jews – they have even become polytheists – by saying that there are three gods and that Îsâ is God [Ibni ’Âbidîn]. [Some of them say that Jesus is the son of God.] Îsâwîs (real believers of Hadrat ’Îsâ) were not polytheists before Christianity was defiled and idolatry was mixed with it. Jews are farther away from Islam. [Ma’rifatnâma and Tazkira-i Qurtubî] In the fourth level called “Jahîm,” those who worship the sun or the stars will be hurled. In the fifth level called “Hutamah,” those who worship fire or the ox will go. Buddhists and Brahmans will be tortured in the sixth level called “Lazy,” along with those with no religion, and polytheists. In the seventh level called “Hâwiyah,” the very bottom, the most vehement level of Hell, munâfiqs and murtadds will burn.
The order of these seven levels is not the same in the books Tafsiri Mazharî and Gâliyya. A person’s going to Hell, that is, his being a disbeliever, becomes known at his last breath, when he dies. If an unbeliever, that is, a man without îmân, becomes a Muslim, or if a Muslim with many sins and crimes, or who is a holder of bid’at, repents, all such people become pure Muslims. They will not go to Hell.
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The knowledge which Muslims have to learn is called ’Ulûm-i islâmiyya (Islamic knowledge). Islamic knowledge consists of two component parts. The first is religious knowledge. It is also called ’ulûm-i naqliyya. This is the knowledge derived from four sources called Adilla-i shar’iyya, and are of two sections. The branches Tafsîr, Kalâm, and Fiqh of the knowledge of Ulûm-i zâhiriyya are written in their special books. The second one is ’Ulûm-i bâtiniyya. There can be no changes in either of them. The second component part of ’Ulûm-i islâmiyya is scientific knowledges or ’Ulûm-i ’aqliyya. It deals with the structures of matter and substances, and the alterations in them. They are discovered through experiments and calculations. Alterations in this aspect of knowledge is possible in course of time. Those disbelievers who changed religious knowledge to make it compatible with scientific knowledge are called philosophers and reformers of religion.
These people believe in their minds, not the words transmitted. Muslims who try to corroborate religious knowledge with scientific knowledge are called hukamâ. The meanings of some verses in the Qur’ân al-kerîm and also some hadîth-i sherîfs are not clear and cannot be comprehended exactly. These kinds of verses and hadîth-i sherîfs were explained with different meanings by different Islamic scholars. Thus, seventy-three groups who believe differently some of the facts which are to be believed emerged. Among them, the only one group whose belief is correct is called the Ahl-i sunnat or Sunnî. Those who derived wrong meanings are called heretics or the ones who have deviated from the right path. Shi’îtes and Wahhâbîs are in this group. A person who tries to corrupt the beliefs of a Muslim by giving wrong meanings to scientific discoveries is called a zindiq or sham scientist.
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Hence, it has been understood that the present existence of the universe indicates that it has not existed since past eternity, and that there existed an original being, which had been created out of nothing. In other words, we have to accept the fact that beings have been created out of nothing and that today’s beings are the result of a succession of beings coming from those first beings. The book Sharh-i Mawâqif proves in deatil in the first section of its fifth chapter that there is a Creator who creates all classes of beings from nothing, that this Creator should be eternal, and should always exist, and that He should exist eternally without changing. Briefly, ‘to change’ means to become something else. When the Creator changes He becomes something else. His creativeness gets deranged. As explained in the third letter of the third volume of the book Maktûbât by Imâm-i Rabbânî, it is necessary that the Creator will never change and that He will always remain the same. Reasoning from what we have explained, the various classes of beings could not be eternal, and the unchanging Creator must be eternal, He must exist everlastingly. Therefore, there is a Creator who never changes and who is eternal. The name of this never changing creator is Allah.
Allâhu ta’âlâ sent Prophets to men in order to make Himself known. A reasonable, understanding person who reads about the life, the superior qualities of Hadrat Muhammad, who is His last and highest Prophet, will at once realize that Allâhu ta’âlâ exists and that Hadrat Muhammad is His Prophet. He will eagerly become a Muslim. It is called having îmân and being a Muslim to believe that Allâhu ta’âlâ exists, is One, and that Muhammad ‘’alaihis-salâm’ is His Prophet and the most superior one of His Prophets, and his every word is true and beneficial. A person who believes these facts is called a Mu’min and Muslim. The words of Muhammad ‘’alaihis-salâm’ are called hadîth-i sherîf. A person who does not believe any of those things clearly stated in the Qur’ân al-kerîm and hadîth-i sherîfs is called a kâfir. Those disbelievers who believe a history book written in ancient times by men as the words of Allâhu ta’âlâ are called ahl-i kitâb, that is, disbelievers with a book. Jews and Christians are disbelievers with a heavenly book. Those who prostrate themselves before a statue or grave of a man who is known by them as great and believe that he is able to do everything are called mushriks or idolaters. Brahmins, Buddhists, and Zoroastrians are in this group. Those who believe in none of the religions are called atheist and dahrî. Communists and Freemasons and those who have fallen into their traps because they are religiously ignorant are in this group.
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Things cease to exist all the time, while other things come into being as a result of them. But, according to the latest knowledge in chemistry, one hundred and five elements do not cease to exist; changes only take place in their electronic structure. Radio-active events have also shown that elements, and even their atoms, cease to exist, and that matter turns into energy. The German physicist Einstein even calculated the mathematical formula for this conversion. The fact that things and substances have been changing and issuing from one another continuously does not mean that existence itself comes from past eternity. That is, one cannot say, “It will be as it has so far been.” These changes do have a beginning. To say that the changes have a beginning means that the substances coming into being have a beginning, which in turn means that all of them have been created from nothing while nothing existed.
If the substances were not first created out of nothing and if their issuing from one another went far back into eternity, this universe would necessarily be nonexistent now. The existence of the universe in the eternal past would require the preexistence of other beings to bring it about, and those beings, in turn, would require others to pre-exist so that they could come into being. The existence of the latter is dependent upon the existence of the former. If the former does not exist, the latter will not exist, either. Eternity in the past means without a beginning. To say that something existed in the eternal past means that the first being, that is, the beginning did not exist. If the first being did not exist the latter beings could not exist, and consequently nothing could exist. In other words, there could not be a series of beings each of which required the pre-existence of another for their own existence. Therefore, all of them would necessarily be nonexistent.
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Statements and claims of those who say ‘chance existences’ about these countless beings created by Allâhu ta’âlâ with explicit order and harmony are ignorant and contrary to positive science. For example: Let us put ten pebbles numbered from one to ten in a bag. Let us then take them out of the bag one by one with our hand, trying to take them out successively, that is, number one first, number two second, and number ten finally. If any pebble taken out does not follow this numerical order, all the pebbles taken out so far will be put back into the bag and we shall have to try again beginning with number one first. The probability of taking out ten pebbles successively in numerical order is one in ten billion.
Therefore, since the probability of drawing ten pebbles in numerical order is extremely weak, it is surely impossible that innumerable kinds of orders in the universe should have come into existence only by chance. If a person who does not know how to type presses on the keys of a typewriter, let’s say, five times at random, to what extent would it be possible for the resulting five-letter word to express some meaning in English or any other language? If he wanted to type a sentence by pressing on the keys heedlessly, could he type a meaningful sentence? Now, if a page or a book were to be formed by pressing on the keys arbitrarily, could a person be called intelligent who expects the book or the page to have a certain topic by chance?
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As shown by science, beings that have weight and volume are called “substances.” Accordingly, air, water, stone, and wood are substances. Light and electric currents are beings, yet they are not substances. Substances with shapes are called “objects.” A nail, a shovel, pincers, and a pin are objects. They are all made of the same substance: iron. The cause that makes a stationary object move or that makes a moving object stop or that changes its movement is called “force.” Unless a force acts on a stationary object, it remains stationary; it cannot move. Unless a force acts on a moving object, its movement does not change; it never stops. Substances, objects, and energies existing in substances, altogether, are called ’âlam or nature. Every object in nature continuously moves, changes. This means that every object is affected by various forces every moment, thus a change takes – 263 –place. The change that takes place in substances is called an event. We see that some things cease to exist while other things come into being. Our ancestors, ancient people, as well as their buildings and cities, ceased to exist. And after us, others will come into being. According to scientific knowledge, there are forces affecting these tremendous changes. Those who deny Allâhu ta’âlâ say, “These are all done by Nature. Everything is created by the forces of Nature.” If we ask them, “Have the parts of an automobile been brought together by the forces of nature?
Have they been heaped together like a pile of rubbish which has been brought together by flowing water with the effects of waves striking from this direction and that? Does a car move with the exertion of the forces of nature?” Will they not smile and say, “Of course, it is impossible. A car is a work of art which a number of people have built by working together strenuously and by using all their mental abilities to design it. A car is operated by a driver who drives it carefully, using his mind and obeying the traffic rules?” Likewise, every being in nature is also a work of art. A leaf is an astounding factory. A grain of sand or a living cell is an exhibition of fine art, which science has explored to only a small extent today. What we boast about as a scientific finding and accomplishment today is the result of being able to see and copy a few of these fine arts in nature. Even Darwin[1] , the British scientist whom Islam’s adversaries present as their leader, had to admit: “Whenever I think of the structure of the eye, I feel as if I will go mad.” Could a person who would not admit that a car is made by chance, by the forces of nature, say that nature has created this universe, which is entirely a work of art? Of course, he could not. Should he not believe that it has been made by a creator, who has calculation, design, knowledge, and infinite power? Is it not ignorance and idiocy to say: “Nature has created it” or “it has come into being by chance?”
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We come to know our surroundings through our five senses. If it were not for our sense organs, we would not know of anything. We would not even know of ourselves. We would not walk, find out anything, do anything, eat, drink, or live. We would not have parents, nor would we exist. If we thank our Allah ceaselessly only for our sense organs, still we will not have expressed adequate gratitude. We call anything which affects our sense organs being or existence. Sand, water, the sun are all beings, for we see them. Sound is a being, too, for we hear it. Air is a being because we feel the air strike when we open our hand and wave it like a fan. Also, the wind strikes our face. Likewise, cold and hot are beings, for we feel them through our skin. Moreover, we believe in the existence of energies [powers], such as, electricity, heat, and magnetism. We perceive and comprehend that electric currents cause heat, electromagnetism, and chemical reactions; when heat occurs the temperature rises and when it decreases it gets cold. We also understand that a magnet attracts iron.
We say that it is wrong to say, “I don’t believe in the existence of air, heat or electricity because I don’t see them.” Although they are not seen, we perceive them or their effects through our sense organs. Therefore, we believe in many beings that cannot be seen. We say that things are not necessarily nonexistent because they are not seen. By the same token, it is wrong to say, “I don’t believe in Allah. There are no such things as angels or genies. I would see them if they existed. Since I don’t see them, I don’t believe them.” It is a statement contrary to mind and science.
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His father is ’Abdullah. The fathers of ’Abdullah successively are ’Abdulmuttalib, Hâshim, ’Abdu-Menâf, Qussayy, Kilâb, Murra, Kâ’b, Luwayy, Ghâlib, Fihr, Mâlik, Nadr, Kinâna, Huzeima, Mudrika, Ilyâs, Mudar, Nizâr, Me’add and Adnân. All of them, with a brief description of each, have been written in – 260 –alphabetical order in the biographies section appended to the Turkish version of our book, Endless Bliss. The passages announcing the purity of the ascendants of our Prophet in the book Metâli’un-nûr by ’Abdullah-i Rûmî, the annotator of the book Fusûs, are written in our book entitled Ni’mat-i kubrâ. Hadrat Sanâullah-i Dahlawî [pâni-pûtî], who had deep knowledge in branches of Tafsîr, Hadîth, Fiqh, and Tasawwuf and who performed great services to mankind by showing them the way to endless bliss, says in the first and third volumes of Tafsîr-i Mazharî that the word ‘Âzer’ in Sûrat-ul-An’âm is an atf-i beyân for the word ‘Ebîhi.’ Documents stating that Âzer was Hadrat Ibrâhîm’s ‘’alaihis-salâm’ uncle and not his father are more tenable. In Arabia, an uncle is called father. In the Qur’ân Hadrat Ismâ’il ‘’alaihis-salâm’ is called the father of Hadrat Ya’qûb, while, in actual fact, he is his uncle. Âzer’s real name was Nâhûr. Nâhûr was formerly in the true religion of his ancestors. When he became Nimrod’s vizier, he turned into a disbeliever, changing his faith for the world. Also, Fakhraddîn Râzî and most of the salaf-i sâlihîn have stated that Âzer was the uncle. Zerqânî, while explaining the book Mawâhib-i ladunniyya, writes the words:
“Those who believe heavenly books and also historians have unanimously said that Âzer was the uncle,” by Ibni Hajar-i Haytamî, as a document. Imâm-i Suyûtî says that Ibnî ’Abbâs has stated that Âzer was not Hadrat Ibrâhîm’s father and that Hadrat Ibrâhim’s father was Târûh. This statement of Ibni ’Abbâs has also been confirmed by Mujâhid, by Ibni Jarîr, and by Suddî with documents. Again, it is informed by Suyûtî, that also Ibni Munzîr clearly explains in his tafsîr that Âzer was the uncle. Imâm-i Suyûtî wrote a booklet stating that Rasûlullah’s grandfathers, up to Hadrat Âdam were all Muslims. Despite this fact, Muhammad bin Ishaqq, Dahhâk, and Kelbî said that Hadrat Ibrâhim’s father was Âzar whose other name was Târûh. “Ya’qub ‘’alaihis-salâm’ had two names, too. His second name was Isrâil,” they said. Also, Muqâtil and Ibni Hibbân said that Âzer was the nickname for Hadrat Ibrâhim’s father, Târûh. As noted by Baghâwî, Atâ cites from Ibni ’Abbâs that when Rasûlullah wanted to know about his parents, the hundred and nineteenth âyat of Sûrat-ul-Baqara descended, declaring: “Do not ask about the states of the inhabitants of Hell!” Yet Ibni Jarîr states that this information is not dependable. If we should say that this information is true, then Ibni ’Abbâs stated his own supposition. And even if his supposition were true, it is not – 261 –explained clearly that his (Rasûlullah’s) parents are in Hell. Even if they were in Hell, still they could not be said to be disbelievers, for there will be Muslims who will go to Hell. It is declared in a hadîth: “As I am the best of you, so my father is better than your fathers.” The translation from the book Tafsîr-i Mazharî is completed here.
It is written in the al-Hazar section of the book Uyûn-ul-Basâir: “Qadî Abû Bakr Ibnul-Arabî ‘rahmatullâhi ’alaih’, one of the savants in the Mâlikî Madhhab, said that he who said that Rasûlullah’s parents were in Hell would become accursed. Every Muslim has to avoid saying something that will hurt Rasûlullah. Allâhu ta’âlâ abominates a person who hurts him. Nothing could cause more bitter pain than saying that his grandfathers were disbelievers!”
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As is understood from âyat-i-kerîmas and hadîth-i-sherîfs and as is written in thousands of Islamic books, all the fortunate people who were honoured with being Rasûlullah’s ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ fathers and mothers were the noblest, the most honourable, the most beautiful and the purest people of their times and in their countries. They all were cherished, blessed and respectable. Therefore, Hadrat Ibrâhîm’s father was a Believer and was far from having evil habits or abominable, low attributes. Âzar, who was a disbeliever, was not his father; he was his uncle. As is declared at the beginning of Sûrat-u Âl-i ’Imrân, the Qur’ân’s âyats are of two kinds. First, the âyats with clear, obvious meanings, which are called “Muhkamât.” Second, there are âyats called “Mutashâbihât” which are not overt, plain or usual, but which contain unusual meanings. That is, it does not conform with [1] A kind of hadîth.
Please see the sixth chapter of the second fascicle of Endless Bliss.mind or with Islam to give them their apparent, known meanings; it is necessary to give them unusual meanings, that is, ta’wîl (to interpret) them. It is sinful to give them their apparent meanings. For example, the savants of Tafsîr have explained the word yed (hand) as ‘power’ which means capability. By the same token, it is written in The Tafsîr of Baydâwî that in the âyat “When Ibrâhîm ‘’alaihis-salâm’ told his father Âzer...” Âzer is an atf-i beyân[1] for the word ‘father.’ When a person has two names and these two names are mentioned together, it is understood that one of them is famous and the other is not famous, which is called “atf-i beyân.” For this reason, according to the rules of belâghat, fesâhat and i’jâz [2] , Hadrat Ibrâhîm calls two persons father. One of them is his own father, and the other is somebody else whom he refers to as father. The meaning of the âyat is: “When Hadrat Ibrâhim told his Âzer father.” If it weren’t so, it would be enough in the Qur’ân to declare: “When he told Âzer,” or “When he told his father,” instead of declaring:
“When he told his father Âzer.” If he were his own father, the word ‘his father’ would be superfluous. All of the scholars of the Tawrât (Torah) followed the religion of Mûsâ ‘’alaihis-salâm’ for a period of eighteen hundred years, and along with them the Apostles of Jesus ‘’alaihis-salâm’ and the priests who followed them said that Âzer was not the real father but he was the uncle of Ibrâhîm ‘’alaihis-salâm’. As is inferred from the undefiled old namescripts of the Torah and the Bible, the name of the father of Ibrâhîm ‘’alaihis-salâm’ was Târuh. The word Târuh is not the Hebrew synonym of Âzer as some ignorant people write. It means that they both are not names for the same person. There are many verses in the Qur’ân-al kerîm in accord with those in the Torah and the Bible. In the thirtieth page of the Turkish version of his book, Beyân-ul-haqq, Rahmatullah Efendi ‘rahmatullâhi ’alaih’, one of the Islamic scholars of India, says, “Naskh; i.e., anything to be made invalid by Allâhu ta’âlâ, involves only the commandments and the prohibitions. In the commentatory book entitled Ma’âlim-ut-tanzîl al-Imâm alBaghawî says that naskh did not occur in the qisas (narrations) and akhbâr (information) [or in scientific and experimental [1] In Arabic, the second noun, which is written for explaining the meaning of a noun, is called “atf-i-beyân.” Its English counterpart is ‘appositive’.
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It is written by Ibni ’Âbidîn ‘’alaihirrahma’, as he starts dealing with ‘nikâh’ of a disbeliever in his commentary to Durr-ul mukhtâr; also by Ahmad Hamawî ‘rahmatullâhi ’alaih’, in the subject ‘Hazar wa-l-ibâha’ in his commentary to Eshbâh; and also [1] In Arabic, the words ‘mâ’ and ‘lâ’ make the meaning of the verb negative. ‘Mâtû’ means ‘they died.’ ‘Mâ-mâtû’ means ‘they didn’t die.’ When ‘mâ’ in front of the sentence ‘They didn’t die as disbelievers’ is erased, it becomes ‘They died as disbelievers.’(by Nişancızâde Muhammad bin Ahmed bin Muhammad bin Ramadân ‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’alaih’, as he makes various quotations from Islamic scholars) in Mir’ât-i-kâinât: “According to great savants, who have realized the truth, we shouldn’t talk on whether our Prophet’s ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ parents were Believers or not, and we should watch our manners when discussing it. It has been stated in a hadîth-i-sherîf:
‘Do not hurt the living by speaking ill of the dead.’ It does not bring harm upon one not to talk about it or not to learn it, nor will it be asked in the grave or on the day of Judgment.” And again, they say: “Allâhu ta’âlâ, as a blessing on our Prophet, enlivened his parents during his farewell hajj. They believed His Prophet. A sahîh hadîth[1] quoted by Muhammad bin Abû Bakr and Ibni Nâsir-ud-dîn declares this fact. By the same token, His enlivening a man killed by the Banî Isrâil and the man’s giving information about his murderer and His enlivening many dead people with the prayers of Hadrat Îsâ and Hadrat Muhammad were all blessings. It is incorrect to say that the âyat ‘Do not ask My pardon on behalf of those who are for Hell’ is about Rasûlullah’s blessed parents. As for the hadîth-i-sherîf ‘My father and your father are in the fire,’ which is quoted in Muslim; it was said with ijtihâd. It was declared afterwards that they had îmân.” It is written in the book Ahwâl-u atfâl-il-muslimîn that it had ben declared so about the two sons of Hadrat Khadîja, too, but afterwards it was stated that they were not in Hell.
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– It is declared in the two hundred and nineteenth âyat of Sûrat-ush-Shu’arâ of the Qur’ân al-kerîm: “You, that is, your nûr has reached you after having always been transferred from one prostrating person to another.” Explaining this âyat, the Ahl-i sunnat savants ‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’alaihim ajma’în’ have inferred that “All his fathers and mothers were Believers and were sinless.” As is explained in the booklet Sahâba, ‘the blessed’, there are also some people who suppose that the great Ahl-i sunnat savants are Shiites and who say that these are the words of Shiites. The great ones of the Ahl-i-sunnat ‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’alaihim ajma’în’ say that his father and his mother Âmina were in the religion of Hadrat Ibrâhîm. That is, they were Believers. Allâhu ta’âlâ enlivened these two and had them hear the word ‘Shahâdat’ from our Prophet and express it, not for the purpose of making them Believers, but in order that they might be honoured with being in his Ummat. The âyat, “Do not ask a blessing on your relative,” was intended for Abû Tâlib. It was not intended for his parents. It is written in the translations of Imâm-i A’zâm’s book entitled Fiqh-i Akbar, of which there are many copies in the world, that they (his parents) died without belief. Yet it is written in Imâm-i A’zam’s manuscript that they died with îmân. Later, it was discovered that his enemies had made this mistake on purpose by erasing the first ‘mâ’ .
The manuscript of Fiqh-i Akbar by Imâm-i A’zam Abû Hanîfa, along with a part of the Qur’ân al-kerîm, which was written by the blessed hands of Hadrat ’Uthmân, the Amîr-ul-mu’minîn, and which was coloured with his blood of martyrdom, and a number of valuable books were taken to Samarkand in 656 A.H. when Hulâghu burned Baghdâd and massacred more than eight hundred thousand Muslims. When Samarkand was captured by the Russians in 1284 A.H. [A.D. 1868], these books were transferred to Petersburg and kept there with great care. This fact is stated by Shamsaddin Sâmi Bey, the author of Qâmûs-ul-a’lâm, within the entry ‘Samarkand’. The book was taken to the city of Ufa in 1335 [1917 A.D.], and thence to the mosque of Khwâja ’Ubaydullah-i Ahrâr in the city of Tashkand in 1341 [1923 A.D.]. Some pages of the copies of the Qur’ân written by the blessed hands of the Khalîfas ’Umar-ul-Fârûq, ’Uthmân-i Zinnûrayn and Alî-yul-Murtadâ ‘radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anhum’ exist in the Museum of Islamic Works, which is next to the Süleymâniye Mosque in Istanbul. Those who wish may see them.
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Hadrat Âdam ‘’alaihis-salâm’, when he was about to die, said to Hadrat Shis ‘’alaihis-salâm’, his son, “My son! This nûr shining on your forehead is the nûr of Hadrat Muhammad, the Last Prophet. Deliver this nûr to pure and chaste ladies, who believe in Allah, and tell your son to do so in your last request!” Up to Muhammad ‘’alaihis-salâm’, all fathers told their sons to do so. Each of them fulfilled this will by marrying the noblest, the chastest girl. The nûr, passing through pure foreheads and chaste women, reached its owner. Allâhu ta’âlâ calls the disbelievers foul in the Sûra-i-Tawba. Since Rasûlullah ‘sallAllâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ states that all his grandfathers were innocent, Âzar, who was a foul disbeliever, must not be Ibrâhim’s ‘’alaihis-salâm’ father. To say that Âzar was Hadrat Ibrâhim’s ‘’alaihis-salâm’ father would mean to deny the hadîth above. Molla Jâmi ‘rahmatullâhi ’alaih’ says in his Persian book Shawâhid-un Nubuwwa:
“A nûr (holy light) shone on Âdam’s forehead ‘’alaihissalâm’ because he bore a mote of hadrat Muhammad ‘’alaihissalâm’. This mote was passed on to Hadrat Hawwa and from her to Hadrat Shis, thus passing from innocent men to innocent women and from innocent women to innocent men. The nûr, together with the mote, passed from foreheads to foreheads.”
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None of the ancestors (fathers and mothers) of our Prophet ‘sall Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’, or of any other Prophet, was a disbeliever or a lowly person. ‘’alaihimussalâm’. The following are the âyat-i-kerîmas and hadîth-i-sherîfs proving our statement true:
1 – In a hadîh-i-sherîf in Bukhârî-i sherîf, the most valuable and the most correct book after the Qur’ân al-kerîm, our Prophet states: “I was born from the distinguished, the best ones of people living in every century, in every era.”
2 – In a hadîth in the book of Imâm-i Muslim, which has, of the thousands of hadîth books, won second place, Rasûlullah states: “Of the descendants of Hadrat Ismâil ‘’alaihis-salâm’, Allâhu ta’âlâ selected a person named Quraish. And of the descendants of Quraish, He selected the Hâshim Family. And among them He placed me.”
3 – In a hadîth quoted by Tirmuzî, he states: “Allâhu ta’âlâ created people. He made me from the best group of people. Then He created the best of these groups in Arabia. He made me from them. Then, choosing the best of homes, the best of families, He created me from them. Then, my soul and body are the best of [1] Great scholars and men of Tasavvuf; that is, the Awliyâ.creatures. My ancestors are the best people.”
4 – In a hadîth in a book by Tabarânî, one of the most valuable hadîth savants, the blessed Prophet states: “Allâhu ta’âlâ created everything out of nothing. Of all things, He liked human beings and made them valuable. Of mankind He made those whom He selected settle in Arabia. And of the distinguished in Arabia, He chose me. He placed me among the distinguished, the best of the people in every age. Then, those who love the ones in Arabia who are obedient to me, love them for my sake. Those who feel hostility towards them feel hostility towards me.” This hadîth-i sherîf is written also at the initial part of Mawâhib-i Ladunniyya.
5 – As is informed in Mawâhib-i-Ladunniyya and in the explanation of Zerqânî ‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’alaih’, it is stated in a hadîth-i-sherîf quoted by ’Abdullah bin ’Abbâs ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anhumâ’: “None of my grandfathers committed fornication. Allâhu ta’âlâ made me from beautiful and good fathers and pure mothers. If one of my grandfathers had had two sons. I would be in the more useful, the better one of these two.”
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– RASÛLULLAH’S (sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa aslam) PARENTS, HIS GRANDFATHERS WERE ALL BELIEVERS A letter by Sayyid ’Abd-ul-Hakîm bin Mustafâ Arwâsî ‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’alaih’: Imâm-i Busayrî ‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’alaih’, the greatest of the Awliyâ educated by Shaikh Abul-’Abbâs Mursî ‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ alaih’, a man of karâmats and a disciple of shaikh AbulHasan-i Shâzilî ‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’alaih’, who in turn was one of the greater ones of the Sôfiyya-i aliyya[1] , wrote a book entitled Qasîda-i hamziyya, which was read by Islamic savants with enthusiasm. In this book he praises our Prophet and says: “The mothers and fathers of the Best of Mankind were all good people. Allâhu ta’âlâ, of His human beings, picked out the best fathers and mothers for him.”
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Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ had many beautiful habits. Every Muslim should learn them and form habits similar to them. Thus, he will be blessed with the lot of escaping disasters and troubles in this world and the next by attaining the shafâ’at of that master of both worlds. Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ used to say the following prayer in Arabic:
Allahumma innî as’aluka-s-sihhate wal-’âfiyata wa-l-amânata wa husn-al-khulqi wa-r-ridâa bi-l-qadari bi-rahmatika yâ arham-ar-râhimîn “O my Allah! I ask Thee to give me health, forgiveness, trustworthiness, beautiful habits and contentment with qadar. O the most merciful of the merciful! Give me these for Thy mercy’s sake!” We, the humble ones, should pray like our exalted and honourable Prophet ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’!
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O Muslim! Now, you also should acquire the beautiful habits of Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’! It is necessary for every Muslim to acquire even the habits of Allâhu ta’âlâ; for Râsul ‘’alaihis-salâm’ stated: “Acquire the habits of Allâhu ta’âlâ.” For example, one of Allah’s Attributes is Sattâr. That is, He covers sins. A Muslim should cover the faults and the defects of his brother-in-Islam, too.
Allâhu ta’âlâ forgives His born slaves for their sins. So, Muslims should forgive one another for their faults and defects. Allâhu ta’âlâ is kerîm and rahîm. That is, His blessings are plentiful and His mercy is extensive. A Muslim should be generous and merciful. The same applies to all good habits.
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He asked, “Why are you crying, daughter?” She said, “I am a Jew’s maid. He gave me one dirham and told me to buy a bottle for half a dirham and olive oil with the remaining half. I bought them. But as I was going back, I dropped the bottle. Both the bottle and the oil are gone, I don’t know what to do now.” Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ gave his last dirham to the girl. He said, “Buy the bottle and the oil with this and take them home.” But the poor girl said, “I am afraid the Jew will beat me for being late.” Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ said, “Don’t be afraid! I will go with you and tell him not to beat you.” So they went to the Jew’s house and knocked at the door. The Jew opened the door and was bewildered to see Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’, who then told him what had happened and interceded for the girl. The Jew sprang down to Rasûlullah’s ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ feet and supplicated, “O, you great Prophet ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’, who is loved and honoured above all by thousands of people! Thousands of lions are awaiting to do your commands. And you honour the door of a wretched person like me for a maid’s sake. O Rasûlallah ‘sall- Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’! I have emancipated this girl for your honour’s sake. Teach me îmân and Islam. Let me become a Muslim in your presence.” Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ taught him Islam, and the Jew embraced Islam. He went back into his house and told his household what had happened. They all became Muslims, too. All these were the fruits of Rasûlullah’s ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ beautiful habits.
Endless Bliss First Fasicle | Page 250-251-252
Anas bin Mâlik ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’ said: “I was walking with Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’. He had a Burd-i Najrânî on. That is, he wore an overcoat made of Yemen cloth. A villager, who came from behind us, pulled his collar so harshly that the collar of the coat scratched his blessed neck and the scratch remained there. Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ turned round. The villager wanted something from the property of zakât. Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ just chuckled at his manners. He commanded that something should be given to him.”
It is written in the book Tatummat-ul-Mazhâr: “This means to say that the person who is in a commanding position should, like Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa saslam’ did, put up with the problems and troubles caused by people. Besides, it is an act of being good-natured for everybody to be patient about problems. It is all the better for the superior ones.”
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Jâbir bin Sumra says: “Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ used to talk very little. He used to talk when necessary or when he was asked a question.” This means to say that a Muslim should not talk nonsense; instead, he should keep silent. He used to speak very clearly and methodically; his words would be understood easily. Anas bin Mâlik said: “Rasûlullah would visit invalids, walk behind the dead as they were taken to the cemetery, and accept invitations.
He would ride a donkey. I saw him in the holy war of Khayber. He rode a donkey with a rope halter. When Rasûlullah went out after morning prayer, children and workers of Medina would bring containers full of water before him. They would beg him to dip his blessed finger into the water. Winter as it might be, he would put his blessed finger into all the containers one by one, thus pleasing them.” Again, Anas bin Mâlik ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’ said: “If a little girl held Rasûlullah’s hand and wanted to take him somewhere for some matter, he would go with her and solve her problem.” Hadrat Jâbir ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’, said: “Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ was never heard to say ‘no’ for anything asked from him.”
Endless Bliss First Fasicle | Page 249-250
Abû Hurayra ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’ said: “During a holy war, we asked him to pray so that the disbelievers would be annihilated. He said: ‘I was not sent to pronounce maledictions over people so that they should be tormented. I was sent to do favours for everybody so that people should attain peace.” Allâhu ta’âlâ declares in the hundred and seventh âyat of Sûrat-ul-Anbiyâ: “We sent thee as a mercy, as a blessing for beings.” Abû Saîd-i Khudrî ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’ said: “Rasûlullah ‘sallAllâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ was more bashful than Muslim virgin girls.”
Anas bin Mâlik said: “When Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ shook hands with a person, he would not take his hand away from that person’s hand before that person did so. He would not turn his face away from that person before the latter turned his face. As he sat near a person, he would sit on his two knees; to respect a person, he would not erect his blessed knee.”
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It is written in the book Masâbih that Anas bin Mâlik ‘radiyAllâhu ’anh’ said: “I served Rasûlullah for ten years. He never uttered “Ugh!” towards me. He never asked me why I had done this or why I hadn’t done that.” Again in Masâbih Anas bin Mâlik said: “Rasûlullah was the most beautiful-natured of people. One day, he told me to go to some place. I said, ‘By Allah, I won’t’. But I did. I went out to do his command. Children were playing in the street. As I passed them, I looked round. Rasûlullah was coming behind me. His blessed face was pleasant.
He said, ‘O Anas! Did you go to the place I told had you?’ I said, ‘Yes, O Rasûlallah, I am going there.’ ”
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It is written in the book entitled Kimyâ-yi Sa’âdat: “Hadrat Abû Sa’id-i Khudrî ‘radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anh’ said: Rasûlullah would give grass to an animal. He would fasten a camel. He would sweep inside his house. He would milk the sheep. He would patch his shoes. He would patch his underwears. He would eat with his servant. When his servant got tired of grinding with small millstones, he would help him. He would go shopping and bring what he had bought in a sack to his home. When he met somebody, he would be the first to greet, whether the other was poor or rich, young or old. He, first, would hold out his blessed hand when he wanted to shake hands. He held the servant, the master, the black and the white as equal. He would go wherever he was invited, no matter who invited him.
He would not despise what was put before him to eat, even if it were only a little. He would not reserve meals from evening to morning or from morning to evening. He was good-natured. He liked to do favours. He established friendly relations with everybody. He was affable and he spoke pleasantly. He wouldn’t grin as he spoke. He would look sorry, but he would not frown. He was modest, but he was not low-natured. He was – 248 –majestic; that is, he would inspire respect and awe. But he was not unkind. He was polite. He was generous, but he would not waste, nor would he give anything in vain. He used to pity everybody. He always bent his blessed head forward. He would not expect anything from anybody. He who wants happiness and peace should be like him.”
Endless Bliss First Fasicle | Page 248-249
Allâhu ta’âlâ, while pleasing the blessed heart of His beloved Prophet by stating a series of the virtues and blessings which He has given to him, also states the beautiful habits which He has bestowed upon him in an âyat-i-kerîma which purports: “Thou art created with a beautiful character.” Akrama says that he has heard from ’Abdullah Ibni ’Abbâs that his Khuluq-i ’azîm, that is, beautiful habits, are the beautiful moral qualities declared in the Qur’ân al-kerîm.
It is written in the book entitled Hadâiq-ulHaqâiq: “It was declared in the ayât: ‘You are (qifted) with khuluq-i-’azîm.’ ‘Khuluq-i ’azîm’ means ‘to have secrets with Allâhu ta’âlâ and to be kindhearted to people.’ The beautiful nature of Hadrat Muhammad was the reason for the conversion of many people to Islam.” One thousand mu’jizas of Hadrat Muhammad were seen; everybody talked about them, friend and foe alike. Of his many mu’jizas, the most valuable ones were his lofty manners and beautiful habits.
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He is the Prophet of all people and genies. It is wâjib for every nation living in every century to follow him. Every Muslim should help his religion, adapt himself to his habits, mention his blessed name very often, say salât and salâm for him respectfully and with love whenever he mentions or hears his blessed name. A Muslim should want with love to see his blessed beauty, and love and respect the Qur’ân and Islam, which he brought.
The book Mir’âti Kâinât says: “Ignorant and lazy people write initials [such as (SAW)] instead of ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam.’ This is not advisable. We should carefully avoid this.” It is stated in the chapter about namâz in Ibni ’Âbidîn: “It is farz to say the (certain prayer) Salawât (pronounced as a benediction over our Prophet’s soul) once in one’s lifetime. It is wâjib to say it each time one says, hears, reads or writes (his blessed name) for the first time, and it is mustahab to pronounce this blessed benediction whenever the blessed name (of the Prophet) is repeated.”
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Fakhr-i ’âlam’s ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ names and characteristics were written in the Tawrât and in the Injîl. Jews and Christians had been awaiting his honouring the world with his presence. However, because he came not from their own race, but from the Arabs, they became jealous and denied him. However, quite a number of the learned and wise ones were reasonable enough to believe, and believe they did. Denial of his prophethood or failure to realize his greatness and superiority will not detract frm his value and honour.
Allâhu ta’âlâ says in Sûrat al-Inshirâh: “I have enhanced the dhikr of you,” so that your name will be will be uttered alongside Mine everywhere. Each longitudinal degree of westward movement adds four minutes to the beginning of a prayer time. So, Muslims all over the world call the Azân every minute of the day, and his blessed name is mentioned with esteem and love everywhere, all the time. Unless a person follows Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ in everything he does, he will not be a Muslim. Unless he loves him more than his own life, his îmân will not be perfect.
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Rasûlullah was ummî, that is, he hadn’t read books; he was not schooled in writing, nor had he received lessons from anyone. Born and raised in Mecca, brought up among certain people, and despite having never travelled, he conveyed information about facts and events in the Tawrât (Hadrat Mûsâ’s heavenly book), in the Injîl, and in the books written during the Grecian and Roman centuries. In order to teach Islam, he sent letters to Muslims. In the sixth year of the Hegira, he sent letters to Byzantine, Iranian, and Abyssinian rulers and to other Arabic emperors.
The Iranian ruler (shâh) Husraw Pervîz tore his letter to pieces, and martyred the Sahâbî who had delivered him the letter. Shortly after that, he was slain by his son named Shîrûya. More than sixty foreign ambassadors came to his service. It is wâjib for everybody who has heard of Rasûlullah’s ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ prophethood to believe him, the Qur’ân, which he brought, and Islam. He who, after having heard, dies without having îmân will go into Hell and will be eternally tormented there.
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Sarwar-i âlam ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ is now alive in a life we can not understand. His blessed body never rots. An angel stays in his tomb and informs him of the blessings which his Ummat (Muslims) invoke upon him. Between his pulpit and his blessed tomb is a place called Rawda-i-mutahhara. This place is one of the gardens of Paradise. It is one of the greatest and most valuable acts of worship to visit his blessed shrine. He said: “My shafâ’at is certain for him who visits my shrine.”
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Sarwar-î ’âlam’s (Muhammad) blessed eyes would sleep, but his blessed heart would not. He would go to bed hungry, but he would feel satiated when he woke up. He never yawned. His blessed body was luminous, and he never cast a shadow on the ground. Flies would not alight on his clothes, nor would mosquitos or other insects suck his blessed blood.
When he was made Rasûlullah (Allah’s Messenger) by Allâhu ta’âlâ, satans could no longer ascend to heaven or steal news, nor could soothsayers any longer make predictions. If a person dreams of Rahmatan-lil-’âlamîn ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi – 238 –wa sallam’, this person certainly has seen him, for the devil cannot assume the Prophet’s guise.
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He made war twenty-seven times, in nine times of which he attacked as a soldier, and in the other occasions he occupied the rank of commander-in-chief. He used two types of flags in his holy wars. His Râya was black. His Liwâ, which was smaller, was white. We have already explained in the twenty-ninth chapter of the current fascicle that the banner of the Ottoman State was designed by Timurtash Pâsha.
He passed away in the blessed city of Medîna before noon on Monday, Rabî’ul-awwal 12th, 11 [632 A.D.], when he was 62 or 61, depending on the calculations done by using the lunar calendar or the solar calendar, respectively. Without taking his holy shirt off, he was washed three times, was wrapped with a new white shroud folded three times, and was buried where his blessed soul was taken.
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When he was fifty-two years old, on the twenty-seventh night of the month of Rajab, in Mecca, Hadrat Jabrâil descended and took him from Masjid-i-Harâm to Masjid-i-Aqsa in Jerusalem and thence to heavens. In this Mi’râj, he saw Allâhu ta’âlâ. On this night, the daily five prayers of namâz became fard. Please read the final page of the fifth chapter of the second fascicle of Endless Bliss! When he was fifty-three years old, he migrated to Medina with a divine command. He left his house early in the morning, on Thursday, the twenty-seventh of the month of Safar. He came to Abû Bakr Siddîq’s house in the afternoon. After a short time, he and Abû Bakr left the latter’s house together. They went to a cave on Mount Sawr, five and a half kilometres south-east of Mecca. The way to this mount, which is 759 metres (about 2530 ft.) above sea level, was very rough. His blessed feet bled. They stayed in the cave for three nights and left it on Monday night. After a week’s travel, they arrived at Kubâ village near Medina on Monday, the eighth of Rabî’ul-awwal, which coincided with the twentieth of September.
It is written in the book of Tafsîr entitled Baydâwî that after staying here until the twenty-third of September, (the autumnal equinox,) when day and night are of equal length, they spent the day here and left for Medîna on the twelfth of Rabî’ulawwal, a Friday, arriving in the blessed city on the same day. Later, during the caliphate of ’Umar ul-Fârûq, the first day of the month of Muharram of that year, which was sixty-six days before the Hijrat, became the beginning of the Muslims’ Hijrî kamarî calendar. That first day, according to historians, was in the year 622 A.D. It is written in Ahmad Ziyâ Bey’s book Ilm-i Hey’et, printed in 1316 [1898 A.D.], that it corresponded with Friday, the sixteenth of July. The beginning of Muslim’s Hijrî shamsî year (Hegira solar calendar) is the day when he entered the village, Kubâ, which was the 20th of September. The first day of the year of 623 A.D. was in the first year of the Hegira solar calendar, and lunar calendar.
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Hadrat Jabrâil’s first coming and informing him of his prophethood, his leaving the city of Mecca for a Hegira, his setting foot in the village of Kubâ of Medîna-i-munawwara, his leaving Medina for the conquest of Mecca, and his death all took place on Mondays. When he was born, it was discovered that his umbilical cord had been cut and that he had been circumcised. When he honoured the earth with his presence, he raised his index finger and prostrated. Angels used to cradle him. He began talking in the cradle. It is said in the annotation Zerkânî of Mawâhib: “When his parents Hadrat ’Abdullah and Hadrat Âmina married, the former was eighteen years old and the latter was fourteen years old. Hadrat Âmina passed away when she was twenty. First he was suckled by his holy mother for nine days, then by Suweyba, a jâriya of Abû Lahab, for a few days. Then, Halîma-i Sa’diyya suckled him for two years.
He stayed in the village of Banî Sa’d bin Bakr for two years; then, when he was four years old, he was brought to the city of Mecca. When he began to walk, he used to watch children play; he wouldn’t join the playing. When he was six years old, his mother Âmina passed away, and when he was eight, his grandfather ’Abdul-muttalib passed away. When he was twentyfive years old, he married Hadrat Hadîjah ‘radiy-Allâhu anhâ’. When he was forty years old, in the month of Ramadân on a Monday, as he was in a cave on a mountain that was called Jabali-hirâ and Jabal-i-nûr and which was an hour’s walk north of the city, the angel appeared to him and he was informed that he was the Prophet for all human beings and genies.
First, Hadrat Jabrâil came. Then, for three years Hadrat Isrâfil kept coming to teach him. Yet, Isrâfil didn’t bring the Qur’ân al-kerîm. Then, Hadrat Jabrâil began to come and conveyed all of the Qur’ân al-kerîm in twenty years. Jabrâil ‘’alaihis-salâm’ came to him twenty-four thousand times. [By comparison, he had descended to Hadrat Âdam twelve times, to Hadrat Nûh (Noah) fifty times, to Hadrat Ibrâhim forty times, to Hadrat Mûsâ (Moses) four hundred times, and to Hadrat Îsâ ten times.] He didn’t manifest his prophethood for three years, and then, with the command of Allâhu ta’âlâ, he declared it.
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Rasûl-i akram ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ was born in Mecca, in the hijrî year 571, on a Monday night, (i.e. a night that was between Sunday and Monday, and) which was the night (following the eleventh and) previous to the twelfth day of the month of Rabî’ul-awwal and which coincided with the twentieth of April, towards morning. Every year, Muslims all over the world celebrate this night as the Mawlid Night. Everywhere, Rasûlullah is remembered by reciting Mawlid Qasidas [Eulogies of Mawlid]. The Sultân of Erbil, Abû Sa’îd Muzaffar-ud-dîn Kukbûrî bin Zaynaddîn Ali, used to organize festivals on mawlid nights and used to give gifts and presents. The beautiful character, benevolence and good deeds of the sultân is noted in detail in a history book by Ibni Khilligân, on the 234th page of Hujjatullâhi ’alal’âlamîn and in a pamphlet entitled Mawlid-î sherîf by Sayyid ’Abdulhakîm-i Arwâsî.
‘Mawlîd’ means ‘the time of birth.’ ‘Rabî’ul-awwal’ means ‘the Spring.’ Our Prophet, after he had become the Prophet, used to lay very much stress on this night every year. The ummat of each Prophet had made the birthday of their Prophet a feast day. And this day is the Muslims’ feast day. It is a day of pleasure and happiness. When Hadrat Âdam was between soul and body, he (Muhammad) was the Prophet. Hadrat Âdam and everything were created for his honour. His blessed name is written in Islamic letters on the Arsh, on skies and heavens. His name Muhammad was given to him by his grandfather, ’Abdulmuttalib. He had dreamt that (Muhammad’s) name would be spread over the world and that everybody would praise and laud him. ‘Muhammad’ means ‘he who is praised much.’
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Rasûlullah, together with twelve thousand heroes, after departing from Medina on the tenth day of Ramadân, conquered Mecca on Thursday, the twentieth of Ramadân, in the eighth year of the Hegira. On the following day, Friday, when reciting the khutbah, he had a black turban around his blessed head. After staying eighteen days in Mecca, he went to Hunayn. He used to let the end of his turban hang down. He used to say, “The turban distinguishes Muslims from disbelievers.” It was his habit to wear various clothes. When ambassadors from foreign countries came, he would adorn himself.
That is, he would wear valuable and beautiful clothes and expose his beautiful face. Formerly, he used to have a gold ring, but later he wore a ring with an agate. He used his ring as a seal. “Muhammadun Rasûlullah” was written on his ring. In all four Madhhabs it is not permissible for men to wear gold rings. His bed was made of leather filled with date tree shredding. Sometimes he slept on this bed and sometimes on leather laid on the ground, on a mat and sometimes on dry soil. He laid on his right side putting his blessed palm under his right cheek. Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ did not accept zakât, and he did not eat such things as raw onions or garlic, and he did not recite poems.
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Fakhr-i ’âlam ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ was the most generous of human beings. He has never been heard to say, “I don’t have,” about something asked from him. If he had the thing asked for, he would give it; if he didn’t have it, he wouldn’t answer. The Prophet had so many great attributes and had done so many favours for so many people that the Byzantine emperors and the Persian shahs could not do enough to compete with him. But he himself liked to live in inconvenience. He led such a life that he would not even remember to eat or drink.
He never used words like “Bring something to eat,” or “Cook such and such food.” He used to eat when they brought the meal to him, and he used to accept whatever fruit they offered to him. Sometimes he ate very little for months, and he liked hunger. And sometimes he ate much. He used to eat with three fingers. He didn’t drink water after meals. He would drink water sitting. When he ate with others, he used to stop eating after everybody had finished. He used to accept presents from anybody. In response to someone who had brought him a present, he used to give much more.
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All the beautiful habits were accumulated in Rasûlullah. His beautiful habits were given to him by Allâhu ta’âlâ; he did not acquire them later by striving. He never cursed a Muslim by mentioning his name, nor did he ever slap anybody with his blessed hand. He never took revenge for himself. He used to avenge for Allah’s sake. He used to treat his relatives, companions and servants well and modestly. He was very mild and affable in his home. He used to visit invalids and attend funerals. He used to help his companions with their work and take their children on his lap. Yet his heart wasn’t busy with them. His blessed soul was in the world of angels.
Fear would grasp a person who saw Rasûlullah suddenly. If he hadn’t behaved mildly, no one could have sat near him, no one could have had the strength to listen to him, owing to his manners of prophethood. However, out of embarrassment, he himself would never look at anybody in the face with his blessed eyes.
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Allâhu ta’âlâ created everything in the best form and for the most useful purposes. For example, He created this spherical earth one hundred and fifty million kilometres away from the sun. If He had created it at a distance longer than this, there would have been no warm seasons and we would have died from the cold. If He had created it at a distance shorter than this, it would have been very hot; as a result, no living creatures would have been able to exist. The air around us is a mixture of 21 % oxygen, 78 % nitrogen, and [1] Darwin died in 1299 [1882 A.D.].0.0003 carbon dioxide. Oxygen comes into our cells, burns the food there so as to provide power and strength for us. If the amount of oxygen in the air had been more than this, our cells would have been burned by the oxygen, too; as a result, we would have become ashes. If its percentage had been less than 21, it would not have been adequate enough to burn the food in our cells, and again there would have been no living creatures. During rainy and thunderous days, oxygen mixes with nitrogen and nitrogenous salts are formed in the sky; they fall to the earth with the rain. They feed the plants. Plants are food for animals, and animals are food for human beings. Therefore, it is understood that our sustenance is produced in the sky and rains down from there. The carbon dioxide in the air stimulates the centres of the heart and breathing in the cerebellum; that is, it makes them work. When the amount of carbon dioxide in the air becomes less, our hearts will stop, and we will not be able to breathe. On the other hand, if its percentage increases, we will choke. The amount of carbon dioxide in the air should never be changed. In order to keep it in the same consistency, He created the seas. When the amount of carbon dioxide in the air increases, its pressure increases, too, and the excessive amounts are dissolved in the seas.
After uniting with the carbonate in the water, it is converted into bi-carbonate. This goes down under the sea and forms a layer of mud there. When the amount of carbon dioxide decreases in the air, it leaves the mud, passes in the water, and then passes from water into the air. No living creature can live without air. That is why air is given to every living creature everywhere, free of charge, without any effort, and sent into their lungs. We cannot live without water either. He created water everywhere too. But, since it is possible to live without water for some time, it has been created in a way that forces people to look for it, and then to carry it away. Fatabârakallâhu ahsunal-khâliqîn! (fourteenth âyat of sûra Müminun: “There is no resemblance of those who say they create, to the exaltedness of Allah.”) Aside from man’s ability to utilize those facts above, how fortunate for them to be able to see and to understand them.
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After our Prophet’s death, all his companions and then his descendants moved out of Arabia for jihâd, that is, in order to spread Islam all over the world. They spread far into Asia, Africa, Cyprus, Istanbul and, in brief, everywhere. In order to teach Allah’s religion to His human creatures, they fought, and they sacrificed their lives. These vast lands teem with those blessed martyrs. They sent their sons to the faculties of Baghdad University, which was at that time the greatest universtiy in the world –and it can be seen in its surviving artifacts today that they had experimented and discovered many new things in physics, chemistry, astronomy, geography and mathematics–, in order that they might learn knowledge. When Hulâghu, the famous tyrant, – 233 –and a grandson of the disbeliever Dzenghiz [Whose real name is Timuchin] Khan’s, persecuted and killed more than eight hundred thousand Muslims, including women and children, and burned and destroyed Baghdâd in 656 (1258 A.C.), only those who hid in wells and those who fled to Anatolia were able to stay alive. Consequently, the descendants of our master, the Prophet, and his companions settled in every part of Anatolia, especially in the East.
Today, the intelligent, patient, and studious people, whom we call Kurds, are all descendants of those blessed people. There are two groups of Kurds. One of them is the descendants of Yâfes (Japheth), the (third) son of Hadrat Nûh (Noah). This group consists of the rude and ignorant people who in very ancient times came to Asia Minor from Central Asia and who now lead a nomadic life. The historian Xenophon, a pupil of Socrates, writes that he has seen the Kurds in eastern Anatolia. The second group of people who are called Kurds are civilized and polite people living in cities. Almost all of them are the descendants of our Prophet and of his companions.
Imâm-i Hasan’s descendants are called “Sherîf” and Imâm-i Husayn’s descendants are called “Sayyid.” Sayyids are higher than Sherîfs. During the time of the Ottomans, in Aleppo there was a great court of justice reserved for Sayyids and Sherîfs. All their descendants were registered there and liars couldn’t claim to be Sayyids. [The courts were abrogated by Mustafa Rashîd Pâsha, a freemason, during the mayhem of the political reforms called Tanzîmât.] The famous Irîsân Beghs, who lived on the land between Van and Hakkârî, were the descendants of the Abbasid Khalîfas and had multiplied out of a child who had escaped the massacre of Hulâghu. In every part of our country today, there are descendants of the Prophet’s companions and Sayyids. We should appreciate their value and spare no effort to respect them.
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The Arabic language, the one and only language of knowledge and civilization in the Middle Ages and which is, in fact, the most advanced and sophisticated language among the seven hundred and seventy languages being spoken in the world today with its richness in grammar, eloquence and literature, entered and settled in every country along with the Islamic civilization.
In those times, the French and other European people who went to Arabic universities and Muslim schools in Spain for educational purposes took with them many Arabic words, especially technical terms used in knowledge and science, to their countries and mixed them with their own languages. Today, in Western languages, Arabic words are still in use. In “The Gospel in Many Tongues,” published by The British and Foreign Bible Society in London, in 1947, there are a few lines written as examples of each of the seven hundred and seventy languages.
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Our Prophet’s descendants until the end of the world will be beautiful and sympathetic. For example, the Amîr of Jordan, the late ’Abdullah, who had been to Istanbul, was such a person. The virtuous Ahmad Makkî Efendî, the late mufti of Kadiköy, was a sayyid (a descendant of the Prophet), and like his ancestors, he was white with black eye-brows, big black eyes, very sympathetic and affable. Rasûlullah’s Ashâb were sympathetic and beautiful, too. Hadrat ’Uthmân was white with blond hair.
Dihya-i Kelbî, the ambassador whom Rasûlullah used to send to Heraclius, the Emperor of Byzantium, was very handsome, and as he went around on the streets of Istanbul, the Byzantine girls used to rush out into the streets in order to see his face. Hadrat Jabrâil (Gabriel) usually came in the guise of Hadrat Dihya ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’.
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The first Friday night (the night between Thursday and Friday) of Rajab-i Sherîf is called the Raghâib Night, for Allâhu ta’âlâ bestows raghîbats, that is, blessings and gifts, on His human creatures throughout that night. Any invocations pronounced on that night will not be rejected, and acts of worship, such as namâz, fasting and alms, will be rewarded a number of times better than usual. He (Allah) will forgive those who respect that night. In the early ages of Islam, and before Islam, it was harâm (forbidden) to war in the months of Rajab, Dhu’lqa’da, Dhu’lhijja and Muharram. It is written in the eighth paragraph of the second chapter of the book Riyâd-un-nâsikhîn:
“It is writen in the Tafsîrs of Zâhidî and Alî Jurjânî and in all the Tafsîrs that before Islam the Arabs used to change the places of the months in order to be able to make war in the months of Rajab and Muharram by putting them forward or backward. Rasûlullah, when he performed the Farewell Hajj with ninety thousand Muslims in the tenth year of the Hegira, said:
“O my Ashâb! We are performing the hajj exactly at its proper time. The sequence of months is exactly as it was when Allâhu ta’âlâ created it!” In the year when ’Abdullah got married the places of the months were wrong. The month of Rajab was in the place of Jamâ’zil’âkhir. That is, it was one month ahead. Then, the transition of the Prophet’s blessed light to our mother Âmina is in today’s month of Jamâ’zil’âkhir. It is not on the Ragâib Night.
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He ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ was an Arab. ‘Arab’ means ‘beautiful’ in the dictionary. For instance, ‘lisân-i arab’ means ‘beautiful language.’ In the geographical sense, ‘Arab’ means person who was born on the Arabian Peninsula and who grew up in its climate with its water and food and who is of the blood of its people. As people of Anatolian blood are called Turks, people who are born and raised in Bulgaria are called Bulgarians and people in Germany German; likewise, Rasûlullah is an Arab because he was born in Arabia.
Arabs, during the time of Rasûlullah were white, light-complexioned. Especially the family of our Prophet (Muhammad) was white and very beautiful. As a matter of fact, his ancestor Hadrat Ibrâhîm had a white complexion and was the son of a Muslîm named Târuh, who was one of the inhabitants of the city of Basra. Âzer, who was a disbeliever, was not Hadrat Ibrâhim’s ‘’alaihis-salâm’ father. He was his uncle and stepfather.
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[The appearance and description of Rasûlullah, ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’]. The shapes of all the visible limbs of our master, Rasûlullah, his habits, his beautiful manners, his entire life, with all their delicacies, have been very detailedly and clearly written by savants along with references and sources. These are called siyer books.
Of the thousands of siyer books....................................Fakhr-i kâinat (Muhammad ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’) used to walk fast, looking down at the ground before him. When he went past a place, he would be recognized by his odorous scent.
Fakhr-i ’âlam had a white complexion mixed with red, and was extremely handsome with a blessed and lovable appearance. If a person says that the Prophet was ugly, black he becomes a disbeliever.
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[God means idol. All the things that are worshipped are called ‘god.’ The name of Allâhu ta’âlâ is ‘Allah,’ not ‘God.’
There is no ‘god’ but Allâhu ta’âlâ. It is wrong and very disgusting to use the word God instead of Allah.]
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Imam Fakruddin Razi (rahmatullahi alaih), great Islamic scholar, the author of Tafsir kebir and also of various other valuable books, wrote while explaining the sixty-first ayat of Al Imran Sura:
When I was in Harazm[1] , I heard that a priest had come to the city and was striving to spread Christianity. I called on him. We began to talk. He asked what was the evidence to demonstrate the fact that Muhammad (alaihi-salam) was the Prophet. I answered him:
Fakhruddin Razi – As it is stated that Musa, Isa and other Prophets (alaihim-us-salam) demonstrated wonders and miracles, so we read and hear about the miracles of Hazrat Muhammad (alaihi-salam). This news is unanimous. You are free to accept or refuse these unanimous reports. If you refuse and say that manifesting miracles does not signify prophethood, you will have to deny the other Prophets, too. If you admit that the reports transmitted in a common way are correct, and that the person who performs miracles is a Prophet, you will have to admit that Muhammad (alaihi-salam) was a Prophet, too...
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A commission of Christians from Najran visited our master Rasulullah (alaihi-salam). Najran was a city between Hijaz and Yemen. They consisted of sixty cavalrymen, twenty-four of whom were their superiors. However, only three of them held the most superior ranks. Their chief was Abdulmasih. Of them, Abulharis bin Alqama was the most learned. He had read about the symptoms of the Last Prophet in the Injil. But, because he was fond of his worldly rank and fame, he had not converted to Islam. Being wellknown for his knowledge, he used to be favored by the rulers and used to control many churches. It was during the late afternoon prayer when the Christian group arrived in Medina and, after the prayer, they entered the Masjid Sharif. They were clad in ornamented priestly garments. It being the time for them to pray, they stood up to pray in the Masjid Sharif and Rasulullah (alaihisalam) said, “Let them pray.”
...
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To obtain spiritual closeness to Allâhu ta’âlâ, that is, to attain love for Allâhu ta’âlâ, the things that are fard must be performed. The first of the fard things is to have a belief as taught by Ahl-i sunna scholars. The second step is to avoid the things that are harâm, to perform the acts of worship that are fard.]
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[In the one hundred and fortieth letter of the second volume, Muhammad Ma’thûm Serhendî ‘rahmatullâhi ’alaih’ says: “In a hadîth-i qudsî it was stated: ‘He who feels hostility toward a Walî slave of Mine will (on account of that hostility) have made a war against Me. Among the things [deeds] which bring my born slave closer to Me, I like the fards best. I like very much my born slave who comes closer to Me by making nâfila ’ibâdat. I will be the ears which hear, the eyes which see, the hands which hold things, and the feet which walk, of my born slave whom I like very much. I will certainly give him whatever he wants. I will certainly protect him when he trusts himself to Me.’
” This hadîth-i qudsî has been explained in the third page of the seventeenth chapter of the second part and in the one hundred and eighty-second page of the book Hadîqa, in the one hundred and sixty-fifth page of the Turkish book K›yâmet ve Âhıret, [1] and also in the sixty-second page of the book The Sunni Path. The qurb, (i.e. closeness to Allâhu ta’âlâ,) which is attained by performing the fards, is more than the qurb which is obtained by performing the nâfilas. However, it is the fards performed with ikhlâs that produce qurb. Ikhlâs means to do the worships because Allâhu ta’âlâ commands them. Every Sunnî Muslim has an amount of ikhlâs. Depending on his taqwâ and worshipping, pieces of information pertaining to heart and called fayz (fayd) will come to his heart.
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You should say “Subhânallâhi wa bi hamdihî” a hundred times every day and every night. There are many blessings in it. Also, it is necessary to say once every morning and once every evening the prayer, (Allâhumma mâ asbaha bî min ni’matin aw bi-ahadin min khalqika, fa minka wahdaka, lâ sharîka laka, fa laka-l-hamdu wa laka-sh-shukr) by substituting (mâ amsâ) for (mâ asbaha) in the evenings, which the Prophet has prescribed. Our Prophet stated: “He, who says this prayer during the day, will have offered the gratitude for that day. When he says it at night, he will have offered the gratitude for that night.” It is not necessary to have an ablution for saying it. You should say it every day and every night.
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After performing each fard namâz, you should try to recite the Âyat-ul-Kursî. Our Prophet stated: “Between Paradise and the person who recites the Âyat-ul-Kursî after fard namâz, there is no obstacle besides death.” After each of the daily five prayers of namâz, you should silently say the word tanzîh (Subhânallâh) thirty-three times, the word tahmîd (Alhamdulillâh) thirty-three times, the word takbîr (Allâhu akbar) thirty-three times and a certain prayer (Lâ ilâha illallâhu wahdahu lâ sharîka-lah, lahu-lmulku wa lahu-l-hamdu yuhyî wa yumîtu wa huwa ’alâ kullî shay’in qadîr) once; all of them add up to a hundred.
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It is stated in a hadîth: “Good news to those on whose pages there are many istighfârs on the Day of Last Judgment!” [Muhammad Ma’thûm-i Fârûqî, in the eightieth letter of the second volume, states: “It has become a proven fact after a number of events experienced by various people that saying istighfârs is effective in getting rid of calamities and hardships. It has been reported in a hadîth-i sherîf that saying istighfâr causes every sort of adversity to be removed and one’s sustenance to increase. After each fard namâz it must be said three times, and this number, (three,) must be complemented to seventy by saying its abbreviated form, ‘Astaghfirallah.’ (sixty-seven times).”
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We should try not to miss Tahajjud namâz (namâz performed after midnight) unless there is a darûrat. [The namâz which is performed after the two-thirds of the night has elapsed is called the tahajjud; it is performed before dawn. Tahajjud means to forgo one’s sleep. Our Prophet ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ would perform tahajjud even during war. He who has omitted prayers of namâz should perform his omitted prayers during the time of tahajjud. Thus he will both pay his debt of omitted prayers and earn the thawâb of tahajjud. If it is difficult to wake up at midnight, order some of your servants to wake you up then. After getting up for a few nights, you will make it a habit and will begin to wake up. He who wants to wake up for tahajjud and morning prayer should go to bed immediately after performing the night prayer, instead or being late for sleep by busying oneself with useless things. At the time of tahajjud, it is necessary to make tawba, to say istighfâr, to trust oneself to Allâhu ta’âlâ, to entreat Him, to think of one’s sins, to remember one’s faults, defects, to fear with the thought of the torment in the next world; and to tremble in anticipation of the bitter torments of Hell. One should beg for afw and maghfirat (forgiveness) very much. At that time and also at any time, it is necessary to say istighfâr (Astaghfirullahal-’azîm-allazî lâ îlâha illâ huwa-l-hayy-al-qayyûma wa atûbu ilayh) a hundred times and to think of its meaning. [‘’Azîm’ means one whose person and attributes are perfect. ‘Kabîr’ means one whose person is perfect. ‘Jalîl’ means one whose attributes are perfect.] One should say it a hundred times after late afternoon prayer [after saying one’s tasbîhs and invoking one’s blessings.] It may be said when one has an ’abdast (ablution) as well as without an ’abdast.
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The acceptable, beloved born slave is the one who does the commands of his owner only because they are his commands. It will be an act of obstinacy and impertinence to be late in doing the command. You should always keep at hand one of the Fiqh books written in Persian, such as the book Targhîb-us salât wa taysîrulahkâm, or any other one of the same kind. [Teachings in the book Targhîb-us salât wa taysîrul-ahkâm are a collection of information borrowed from about one hundred books. The book has three parts. The first part deals with the fact that namâz is fard, the second part is about ’abdast, and the third part deals with the things which break an ’abdast.
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The second pillar of Islam is to perform namâz five times daily, which is a basic pillar of the religion. Namâz is the highest of worships. The most valuable worship after îmân is namâz. Like îmân, its beauty also is of itself. But the beauty of other acts of worship are not of themselves. We should be extra careful to perform namâz correctly. First, we should perform a perfect ’abdast (ablution), and then we should begin namâz without showing any indolence. We should try to perform it in the best manner in the qirâat (standing and reciting the Qur’ân when performing namâz), in rukû’ (bowing by putting the hands on the knees, in sajdas (prostrating twice), in qawma (standing upright and motionless after rukû’) and in jalsa, (sitting upright and motionless for a moment between the two sajdas) and in its other stages. We should know that tumânînat is necessary, which means to keep each of our limbs motionless during rukû’, sajda, qawma and jalsa. We should perform namâz in its early time and avoid slackness.
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After correcting our belief, it is necessary to do the things which Islam commands. Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ declared: “The building of Islam has been constructed upon five pillars. The first of them is to say, ‘Eshhadu an lâ ilâha illallah wa eshhadu anna Muhammadan ’abduhu wa rasûluh,’ and to believe its meaning.” The meaning of this word of Shahâdat is: “I know and believe as if I saw that there is no god, nobody besides Allâhu ta’âlâ, whose existence is necessary and who is worth being worshipped and obeyed. I know and believe as if I saw that Muhammad ‘’alaihis-salâm’ is both a born slave and the Prophet of Allâhu ta’âlâ. He having been sent, the dispensations of the Prophets preceding him have been antiquated and their validity has been abrogated. Attaining endless bliss requires following him. Each of his utterances has been imparted to him by Allâhu ta’âlâ. All of them are correct. There is no likelihood for any mistake.” [A person who wants to become a Muslim first expresses this word of Shahâdat and its meaning. Then he learns how to perform a ghusl and namâz, and then the fards and harâms, as many of them as he needs.
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it is necessary to love all of them; to love them is to love our Sayyid, the Prophet. He stated in a hadîth: “He who loves them does so because he loves me.” We should utterly avoid disliking them or, especially, feeling hostility towards one of them, since enmity towards them means enmity towards our Prophet. He said in a hadîth: “He who is their enemy is so because he is my enemy.” To revere, to respect those great people would be to revere and to respect the Best of Mankind. To belittle them would mean to belittle him. For respecting the company of the Best of Mankind and the words of the Best of Mankind, it is necessary to respect and esteem all the Ashâb-i kirâm. Hadrat Abû Bakr-i Shiblî ‘quddisa sirruh’, one of the greater ones of the Awliyâ, says: “A person who does not respect or esteem the Ashâb-i kirâm ‘radiyAllâhu ta’âlâ ’anhum ajma’în’ has denied Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’.”
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The superiority of the four Khalîfas to one another is in accordance with the sequence of their caliphates. All the savants of the right way said: “After the Prophets ‘’alaihim-us-salawâtu wa-tteslîmât’ the highest of human beings is Hadrat Abû Bakr Siddîq ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’. Next after him is Hadrat ’Umar Fârûq ‘radiyAllâhu ’anh’.” To this faqîr, being higher or superior does not depend on having virtues, attributes or good habits. It depends on accepting Islam before others, giving one’s property more than anybody else for one’s religion, and risking one’s life. That is, it depends on being a teacher to one’s successors. The successors learn eveything from their predecessors. All of these three conditions were found in Hadrat Siddîq. He accepted Islam before anybody else and sacrificed his property and his life for the sake of the religion. This blessing has not been the lot of anybody else besides him in this Ummat. Rasûlullah stated towards his death: “Nobody equals Abû Bakr in sacrificing his property and life for my sake. If I were to have a friend, I would have made Abû Bakr my friend.” He stated in a hadîth: “Allâhu ta’âlâ sent me to you as a Prophet. You did not believe me. Abû Bakr did. He helped me with his property and life. Do not hurt him; revere and respect him!” He stated in a hadîth: “There will not come another Prophet after me. If there were another, certainly ’Umar would be a Prophet.” Hadrat Amîr ’Alî ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’ said: “Both Abû Bakr and ’Umar are the highest of this Ummat. He who holds me superior to them is a slanderer. As slanderers are to be thrashed, I will thrash him.”
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ÎMÂN (FAITH): It is called îmân to believe through the heart the facts that are known to be of Islam, and to express one’s îmân with one’s tongue. The facts that must be believed are: To believe the existence of Allâhu ta’âlâ, His Oneness, His Books and Pages, – 180 – [1] Please see our book entitled the Rising and the Hereafter.and His Prophets and Angels. To believe in the Hashr (Allâhu ta’âlâ’s making people rise and assemble for judgment) and Neshr (dispersal after judgment), the next world, the eternal blessings in Paradise, the eternal torment in Hell, the cracking of the skies, the dispersing of the stars, and the breaking of the earth into pieces. To believe that it is fard to perform the prayer of namâz five times daily, to believe in the numbers of rak’ats [1] in these prayers, to believe that it is fard to pay the zakât of one’s property (see first chapter of fifth fascicle), to fast every day in the month of Ramadân and, for those who qualify, to go to the city of Mecca and perform the hajj. It is necessary to believe that it is harâm to drink wine, to eat pork, to kill a person unjustly, to disobey one’s parents, to steal, to commit fornication, to appropriate an orphan’s property, to charge or pay interest when lending or borrowing money, [for women to go out without covering themselves properly or naked, and to gamble.] If a person with îmân commits a grave sin, his îmân does not go away, nor does he become a kâfir. A person who says halâl about a sin, that is, about a harâm, becomes a kâfir. He who commits a harâm becomes fâsiq (sinful). One should say, “I am certainly a Mu’min.” One should say that one has îmân. One should not say inshâ-Allah (if Allah wills) while saying that one is a Believer. It may imply doubt. Yes, it may be permissible to say inshâ-Allah about one’s last breath, yet it is still better not to say so.
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It is at the last breath when it is determined whether a person is a Believer or an unbeliever. Many people remain disbelievers throughout their lives, and, at last, they get blessed with îmân. Likewise, there are people who spend their entire lifetimes with îmân in their hearts and yet who turn renegades in the end. At the Last Judgment, they will be judged according to their last breath. Yâ Rabbî! After showing us the right way and honouring us with îmân, protect us against going wrong, against aberration! Have mercy upon us, pity us! Thou alone can show the right way!
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[It is written in the two hundred and ninth page of the book Âmentü Şerhi, written by Kâd›zâde Ahmed Efendî: “In Hell, there is a place called Zemherîr. That is, it is the cold Hell. Its cold is so vehement that it cannot be endured even for a moment. Disbelievers will be tormented by being thrown now into the cold Hell and then into the hot one, and then again into the cold one and then again into the hot one.” It is written in the sixth chapter of the fourth part of the book Kimyâ-yi Sa’âdat, and also in the – 179 –chapter “Calling One’s Nafs to Account” at the end of the book Kıyâmet ve Âhıret, which is the Turkish version of the book entitled ad-Durrat al-Fâkhira, by Imâm-i-Muhammad Ghazâlî, that there are cold zemherîr [1] torments in Hell. This fact is also stated clearly in hadîth-i-sherîfs. By attacking Islam through lies and slanders, the enemies of religion say, “Because all Prophets came to hot countries, they always frightened people with fire by saying that fire was the means of torment in Hell. If they had come to the poles, to the cold northern countries, they would have said that the torment would be done with ice.” These disbelievers are both ignorant and stupid. As a matter of fact, if they knew of the Qur’ân and if they had heard of the words of the great men of Islam and if they were a little clever, they would become Muslims immediately. At least, perhaps, they would not be so mean as to write these reckless lies. Our religion both declares that there are also cold torments in Hell, and states that Prophets were sent not only to hot countries, but also to every country on earth, hot or cold alike. The Qur’ân answers the questions asked to our Prophet in accordance with the knowledge and understanding of the people who asked them. Also, it explains the unknown beings in the next world by likening them to the ones which people have seen and known in the world. Since the Meccans had not heard of the poles and of the countries of ice, it would be useless to tell them about the freezing torments of Hell. The existence of such information compatible with this subtlety in the Qur’ân and hadîths causes today’s unbelievers to become more confused.]
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On the Day of Rising, with the permission of Allâhu ta’âlâ, the virtuous ones will perform shafâ’at for the bad ones; that is, they will intercede for them. Our Prophet stated: “My shafâ’at is for the ones with grave sins from among my Ummat.” After settling accounts, disbelievers will go into Hell and will stay in Hell and be tormented eternally. Believers will stay in Paradise and in the blessings of Paradise eternally. Those Muslims whose sins are greater than their good deeds will possibly go into Hell, being tormented there for a while or as much as they deserve on account of their sins. Yet they will not remain in Hell eternally. A person with îmân equaling a speck will not remain in Hell eternally, but being blessed with Divine Mercy, he will enter Paradise.
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There is the day when the world will end. That day will surely come. On that day, the skies will be torn into pieces, the stars will disperse, the earth and mountains will break into pieces and will be annihilated. The Qur’ân communicates this fact and all groups of Muslims believe it. He who denies it becomes a kâfir. Even if he misrepresents his obstinacy well by means of some fantastic stories, or deceives the ignorant by pushing knowledge and science on them, he is still a kâfir. At the end of the world, after all creatures are annihilated, they will be recreated, and all people will be resurrected from their graves. Allâhu ta’âlâ will resurrect the bones that have rotted and turned into dust. That day a pair of scales will be set up; the account-books of all humans will fly to their owners, to the righteous ones from their right and to the evil ones from their left. The bridge of Sirât, which is set over Hell, will be passed, the pious ones will pass over it and will go into Paradise, but those who are for Hell will fall down into Hell. These things which we state are not impossible. Since the Mukhbîr-i sâdiq ‘sallAllâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam’ has declared them, we have to accept them and believe them instantly. We shouldn’t doubt about them by being fed on illusions. Allâhu ta’âlâ declares in the seventh âyat of Sûrat-ul-Hashr: “Take what My Messenger has brought for you!” In other words, believe whatever he says!
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Torment in the grave and the grave’s squeezing the corpse are true facts. He who denies them does not become a kâfir, but he becomes on ahl-i bid’at since he has denied the hadîths that are well known. [Such people deny the torment in the grave because they doubt that those hadîths are true ones. If they accepted them as hadîths, they would believe it. For this reason, they do not become disbelievers, but they stray from the Ahl-i sunnat. But, he who says, “I do not believe in the torment in the grave, whether it is written in hadîths or not. Mind and experiments do not confirm it,” becomes a kâfîr. People who deny it in this manner today become disbelievers.] Since the grave is a pass between this world and the next torment in the grave is transient like worldly torment but resembles the torment in the next world. That is, in one respect, it is like worldly torment, while in another respect, it is like torment in the next world. The torment in the grave will be mostly done to those who fouled their clothes while urinating and to those who spread gossip among Muslims while they are in the world. Two angels named Munkar and Nakîr will ask questions in the grave. It is difficult to answer their questions. [‘Munkar and Nakîr’ means ‘(something) whose nature is not known’.
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All of what the Mukhbir-i sâdiq ‘’alaihi wa ’alâ âlihi-s-salâtu wa-s-salâm’ (he who always tells the truth, the Prophet) communicated about the grave, Rising, Hashr (assembling in the space of Arasât after the Rising), Neshr (dispersing after the settling of accounts to go into Paradise or Hell), and about Paradise and Hell, is true. Believing in the next world, like believing in Allâhu ta’âlâ, is an essential of îmân. He who denies the next world is a kâfir, as if he denied Allâhu ta’âlâ.
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ANGELS: They are valuable born slaves of Allâhu ta’âlâ. Some of them have been honoured with conveying information to other angels and to His Prophets ‘’alaihim-us-salâm’ among mankind. They do what they are commanded to do. They do not revolt. They do not eat or drink. They do not get married. They are neither male nor female. They do not have children. They carried the (heavenly) Books and Pages. Because they are trustworthy, what they convey is true. To be a Muslim, it is necessary to hold this belief concerning angels. According to the majority of the savants of the right way, the exalted ones of human beings are superior to the exalted ones of the angels. Since human beings struggle against the Devil and against their own nafs, they are – 177 –exalted, though they are in need. But angels were created exalted already. Angels say tasbîh and taqdîs [1] . Yet it is peculiar to the higher ones of human beings to add jihâd to it. Allâhu ta’âlâ declares in the ninety-fourth âyat of Sûrat-un-Nisâ: “Those Muslims who perform jihâd, who war against the enemies of religion by sacrificing their property and lives for Allah’s sake, are more exalted than those who do not go out, but instead only worship. I promise Paradise for all of them.”
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Hadrat Îsâ (Jesus) did not die. When Jews wanted to kill him, Allâhu ta’âlâ raised him alive up to Heaven. At a time towards the end of the world he will descend to Damascus from Heaven and will follow the religion of Muhammad ‘’alaihissalâm’. Hadrat Khwâja Muhammad Pârisâ, one of the great Awliyâ educated by Hadrat Bahâaddîn-i Naqshibandî Bukhârî, a great Walî, a diver into the ocean of Tasawwuf, says in his book Fusûl-i sitta: “Hadrat Îsâ will descend from Heaven, will act according to the Madhhab of Imâmi Abû Hanîfa, (i.e. the Hanafî Madhhab,) will say halâl about what he said was halâl, and will say harâm about what he said was harâm.
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Having mercy upon His born slaves, Allâhu ta’âlâ sent them Prophets ‘’alaihim-us-salawâtu wa-t-teslîmât’. Through them He guided His born slaves to the right way, to the way of endless bliss, and called His born slaves to Himself. He invited them to Paradise, – 176 –the place for His grace and love. So poor should be a person to turn down an invitation on the part of such a giver of favours. How idiotic it would be to deprive oneself of His blessings. All the information which those great people conveyed from Allâhu ta’âlâ is true. It is necessary to believe all of it. Though mind is a means for finding out the truth and what is good, it cannot find it alone, for it is insufficient. It has been completed with the coming of Prophets ‘’alaihim-us-salawâtu wa-t-teslîmât’. There is no excuse, no pretext left for men. The first Prophet is Hadrat Âdam. And the last one is hadrat Muhammad Rasûlullah ‘’alaihi wa ’alaihim-ussalawâtu wa-t-teslîmât’. It is necessary to believe in all the Prophets. All of them should be known as innocent (sinless) and true. To deny one of them means to deny all of them. For, all of them taught the same îmân. That is, the essentials, the bases of the things to be believed were the same in all their religions.
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[Allâhu ta’âlâ willed in pre-eternity to give to mankind the power of option, and to let them choose freely the things they want to do or do not want to do. He never forces men to do something. The reason for mankind having the power of option is because Allâhu ta’âlâ willed it to be so. The freedom that mankind has in doing what he wishes clearly indicates that mankind has the power of option; as well, it denotes that Allâhu ta’âlâ willed it in preeternity that way. If He had not willed mankind to have the power of option, and if He had not created it in them, then man would not be free, but would be obliged to do the thing he wished for. However, when a man wishes and wills to do something, Allâhu ta’âlâ, too, wills it and creates it. Allâhu ta’âlâ is the Creator of the things men opted for. Man cannot create and then do any one of his wishes. After he wills something, then Allâhu ta’âlâ also wills it and creates it. He, Allâhu ta’âlâ, is the only Creator and Maker of everything. There is no creator other than Him. To call anyone other than Him Creator, or to say ‘...someone created’ is very wrong and is an act of making someone a shareholder, a partner with Allâhu ta’âlâ, which is what He most emphatically prohibited and informed that such people will experience an endless and most vehement torment.]
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As human beings are creatures, so are all their deeds and actions; they are Allâhu ta’âlâ’s creatures. For, nobody besides Him can make or create anything. How can a creature create another, while it itself has been created? The stamp of createdness denotes little power and signifies insufficient knowledge. He who has little knowledge and power cannot create or invent. In man’s action, what falls to his lot is a result of his acquiring. That is, action has been produced through his power and will. It is Allâhu ta’âlâ who has created and made that action, and it is man who has acquired it. As is seen, the optional actions of men, those which they do willingly, happen from their acquiring and Allah’s creating. If man’s acquiring or option [that is, his liking] does not take part in his action, that action turns into convulsions. [It becomes like the movement of the stomach or of the heart.] However, it is obvious that optional actions are not like them. The difference between optional actions and convulsions, though they are both created by Allâhu ta’âlâ, is in the acquiring. Pitying His born slaves, Allâhu ta’âlâ made the creation of their actions dependent upon their intention and wish. He creates man’s action when man wants. It is for this reason that man is responsible. The blessing or the sin of the action is given to man. The intention, the option, which Allâhu ta’âlâ has given to His born slaves, is equal in doing or not doing the action. He declared clearly to His born slaves through His Prophets what actions are good or bad to do or not to do. Man, being free to do or not to do each of his actions, – 175 –will for certain choose one of them; the action will be either good or bad, and he will receive either a blessing or a sin. Allâhu ta’âlâ has given His born slaves as much power (energy) and option (liking, choosing) as to obey His commands and prohibitions. There is no need for Him to give any more ability. He has given as much as is necessary. He who does not believe this is a person who cannot realize things easily. Because his heart is sick, he looks for pretexts for not obeying the Ahkâm-i-islâmiyya
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Allâhu ta’âlâ is the creator of the worlds and heavens. He is the One who created mountains, seas, trees, fruits, metals, germs, animals, atoms, electrons and molecules. As He ornamented the first heaven with stars, so He ornamented the earth by creating human beings. He created simple substances, elements. Compounds came into being through His creation. He is the One who created everything out of nothing. Everything other than Him was nonexistent. None of them is eternal. All righteous religions declare that everything other than Allâhu ta’âlâ came to being later while having been nonexistent and that there is nothing eternal except Allâhu ta’âlâ. They say that those who know others as eternal are disbelievers. Imâm-i Ghazâlî, the Proof of Islam, said in his book al-Munqidhu ’aniddalâl (reproduced by offset press by Hakîkat Kitabevi) that he who knows anybody besides Allâhu ta’âlâ as eternal is a kâfir (unbeliever). The Qur’ân al-kerîm communicates that those who know the heavens, the stars and other things as eternal are liars. There are many âyat-i-kerîmas showing that the ’âlams were created out of nothing. Extremely dissolute is the person who contradicts the Qur’ân by following his mind, which may go wrong at any time. Unless Allâhu ta’âlâ gives light to a person, he will not be enlightened.
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Paradise also is a creature of Allâhu ta’âlâ, as everything is. Allâhu ta’âlâ does not enter or stay in any of His creatures. But His divine lights appear on some of His creatures. And others do not have that talent. The mirror reflects the images of the things opposite itself. But stone or soil does not reflect them. Though Allâhu ta’âlâ is in the same nisbat (relation) to each of His creatures, the creatures are not the same in respect to one another. Allâhu ta’âlâ cannot be seen in the world. This world is not convenient for attaining the blessing of seeing Him. He who says that He can be seen here is a liar, a slanderer. He has not understood the truth. If this blessing were attainable in this world, Hadrat Mûsâ ‘’alaihis-salâm’ would have seen Him before anybody else. Our Prophet ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ was honoured with this good luck in the Mi’râj [1] .
Yet it did not happen in this world. He went into Paradise. He saw Him there. That is, he saw Him as He will be seen in the next world. He did not see Him in the world. While being in the world, he went out of the world, went into the next world and saw Him.
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Believers will see Allâhu ta’âlâ in Paradise. But they will see Him by way of a seeing which is not known. Seeing something which is not known or comprehended, will be seeing which is not comprehended. Maybe the one who sees will go into a state that cannot be understood, and then will see. This is a mystery, a puzzle, which has been communicated to the distinguished ones of the Awliyâ in this world. This profound, difficult matter, which is hidden to everybody, has been revealed to them. It has not been understood, with the exception of the Ahl-i sunnat, neither by groups of Believers nor by any individual among the disbelievers. All but those great people said that Allâhu ta’âlâ could not be seen. Others went wrong because they likened the things which they did not know to those which they saw. It is obvious that such comparisons and measurements will give wrong results. [And today, many people are drifting towards eternal disaster by losing their îmân because of this wrong measurement and comparison.] To be blessed with the honour of îmân in profound matters such as these falls to one’s lot only in the light of obeying the Sunnat (that – 173 –is, the Ahkâm-i-islâmiyya) of Muhammad ‘’alaihi-s-salâm’.
How can they be honoured with attaining this blessing, those who are deprived of the honour of believing in seeing Allâhu ta’âlâ in Paradise in light of the famous saying, “He who rejects will be deprived”? On the other hand, it is not suitable to be in Paradise and not see Him, for Islam says that all of those in Paradise will see. It does not say that some of them will see and others will not see Him. We will quote for them the answer which Hadrat Mûsâ gave to Pharaoh, which Allâhu ta’âlâ declares through the 51st and 52nd âyats of Sûra Tâhâ: “Pharaoh said, ‘What became of those who came and passed before us?’ He said in response, ‘My Allah knows their states and futures. It is written in Lawh-i mahfûz. My Allah never goes wrong or forgets anything. As for me, I am merely a born slave like you. I know only as much as He lets me know.’ ”
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Allâhu ta’âlâ is the Speaker of one Word from eternity in the past until eternity in the future. All His commandments are from that one Word. All His prohibitions are, again, from that one Word. Likewise, all His news and all His questions originate from that one Word. The books Tawrât and Injîl denote that one Word. Also, the Zebûr and the Qur’ân al-kerîm signify that one Word. Likewise, His other Books and Pages are all explanations of that one Word. When eternity in the past and eternity in the future become one moment at that rank despite their being infinite –even though it would not include the word ‘one moment,’ we use the word ‘one moment’ since there is no other word– the word, which is in that one moment, is also certainly one word, one letter, and even one dot. To say one dot, like saying one moment, is due to there being no other appropriate word. Otherwise, it would not be correct to say even one dot. The wideness and the narrowness in Allah Himself and in His Attributes are not like those which we know and with which we are familiar. He is far from being wide or narrow, which is an attribute for creatures.
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Allâhu ta’âlâ knows the wholes, the fragments, the big things and the tiny motes. He knows every secret. He knows the tiniest motes in earth and in the skies. He is the One who creates everything. Certainly, He knows the things He creates. Creating requires knowing.
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The other Attributes of Allâhu ta’âlâ are either i’tibârî (thought to exist) or selbî (impossible to exist). For example, qidam (not nonexistent before His existence), ezeliyyat (not having a beginning as an existence), wujûb (impossible to cease to exist), and ulûhiyyat. For example, Allâhu ta’âlâ is not a substance. He is not of a substance. He is not matterial. He is not a state. He does not have a place. He is not with time. He has not entered anything or settled in any place. He is not limited or surrounded by anything. He is not on any side or in any direction. He is not connected with anything. He does not resemble anything. He does not have a likeness or an opposite. He does not have a mother, father, wife or children. [He who says, “Allah, the Father,” becomes a kâfir.] All these are things that exist in creatures, in beings that were created later. They are all signs of a defect and fault. They are all sifât-i selbiyya. All perfect Attributes exist in Allâhu ta’âlâ. No defective attributes exist in Him.
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Allâhu ta’âlâ has perfect Attributes that are not deficient. They are: hayât (to exist), ’ilm (to know), sem’ (to hear), basar (to see), qudrat (to be omnipotent), irâda (to will), kalâm (to say) and tekwîn (to create). These eight Attributes are called Sifât-i thubûtiyya or Sifât-i haqîqiyya. These Attributes of His are eternal. That is, they are not existences that came into being later. They exist separately from Himself. The Ahl-i Sunnat savants have stated so, so may Allâhu ta’âlâ reward them for their work! None of the seventy-two sects, but only the Ahl-i Sunnat could realize that Allâhu ta’âlâ had separate Attributes.
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Allâhu ta’âlâ exists by His Dhât; His existence is of Himself. As He exists now, He has always been existing and will continue to exist. There cannot be nonexistence before or after His being. His existence is indispensable. That is, He is Wâjib-ulwujûd (the Indispensable Being). There cannot be nonexistence at that rank. Existence of Allâhu ta’âlâ can be understood both scientifically and mentally. The scientific way (of understanding His existence) is also called limnî way. His existence is proved through both these ways in the sixtieth chapter of the current book. Allâhu ta’âlâ is One. That is, He does not have a partner or a likeness. He does not have a partner in being Wâjib-ul-wujûd, in being worshipped or in being worthy of worship. To have a partner would mean insufficiency and dependence on the part of Allâhu ta’âlâ, which are defects and faults. There cannot be deficiencies in wujûb and ulûhiyyat [1] .
He is sufficient, independent. That is, He is by Himself. Then, there is no need for a partner or a likeness. And being unnecessary is a defect and is not compatible with wujûb and ulûhiyyat. As it can be seen, to think that He has a partner shows that each of the partners is insufficient. That is, to think that there is a partner exposes the fact that there cannot be a partner. That means to say that Allâhu ta’âlâ does not have a partner. He is One.
[Îmân and i’tiqâd are the same. There is a very lengthy and profound branch of knowledge describing them called ’Ilm-i Kalâm. Savants of Kalâm are very great people, and books of Kalâm are numerous. These books are also called books of ’aqâid. Things that are to be done or abstained from with the heart and body are called Ahkâm-i-islâmiyya or shortly Islam. The branch of knowledge teaching the Ahkâm-i-islâmiyya, which consists of acts to be practised with the body, is called ’Ilm-i-Fiqh. The books of Kalâm of the four Madhhabs are the same, but their books of Fiqh are different. The books that are written for non-educated people and that briefly and clearly describe the knowledge of Kalâm (îmân), morals and Fiqh, which everybody should know and do, are called the books of ’Ilm-i hâl. It is the first duty of each Muslim to get books of ’Ilm-i hâl written by blessed people who know, love and take care for their religion. Thereafter, he must teach what he has learned to his wife and children. To attempt to learn Islam from the speeches and articles of ignorant people who call themselves and pass themselves as men of religion means to throw oneself down into Hell.]
Since the tenets that must be believed are the essentials, the absolutely indispensable bases of Islam, it is necessary for everybody to teach and to learn them. [It is everybody’s first duty to learn them. He who does not learn correct îmân and its rules and who does not teach them to his children has not done his duty as a human being. Everbody has the right to learn them. It is the first of all human rights.]
Each religion which Allâhu ta’âlâ declared is of two component parts: i’tiqâd (belief) and ’amal (worship); i.e., îmân and rules. Of them, i’tiqâd is the same in every religion. I’tiqâd is the essence and the basis of the religion. It is the trunk of the tree of the religion. And ’amal is like the branches and leaves of the tree. The i’tiqâds communicated in ancient religions were defiled in the course of time. The only correct i’tiqâd today is the i’tiqâd which is communicated by the Islamic religion. He who does not have this correct i’tiqâd will not be saved from Hell. It will be impossible for him to escape the torment in the next world. There is hope for those without ’amal to be saved. They may rely on the mercy of Allâhu ta’âlâ; He may forgive them, if He wills, or may torment them as much as they deserve on account of their sins, if He wills, and then take them out of Hell. Staying eternally in Hell is for those who do not hold the correct i’tiqâd taught by the Islamic religion, that is, those who do not believe the tenets of the Islamic religion, which were conveyed by Muhammad ‘’alaihis-salâm’. Those who hold the i’tiqâd, but who do not have ’amal, that is, who do not carry out the rules with their heart and body, will not stay in Hell eternally, though they may go there.
Everybody knows that he who does favours should be thanked. It is a requirement of being human. Those who do favours are respected. Generous people are deemed great. Then, it is a requirement of being human to thank Allâhu ta’âlâ, who is the real owner of every blessing. It is a duty, a debt, which reason necessitates. However, since Allâhu ta’âlâ is free from any defect or fault, while men are smeared with the taint of defects and with the stains of deficiency, they do not have any relationship with Him. They cannot understand how great He is or how to thank Him properly. Methods which they think of as beautiful and use to describe Him may be loathsome to Him. What they think appropriate as a way of lauding and praising Him may, in fact, insult and belittle Him. Unless He dictates the means by which He should be praised and thanked, other ways cannot be trusted as being worthy of Him, nor can they be acceptable ways of worshipping Him. A way that a man chooses to thank Him may actually be a form of slander. Therefore, the religions which have been communicated by His Prophets ‘’alaihim-us-salawâtu wa-tteslîmât’ reveal how He should be praised, respected, and thanked. Ways of respecting Him through the heart are taught by Islam, and the thanks that must be rendered to Him with the tongue are, again shown by Islam. Religions explain clearly and in detail the actions which every organ will do. Then, thanking Allâhu ta’âlâ by believing with the heart and doing certain things with the body is possible only by adapting oneself to Islam. The reverence and the worship that is rendered to Allâhu ta’âlâ without Islam cannot be depended upon. They usually are done in a form contrary to His wishes and what is thought of as a blessing turns out to be a sin. As is understood from these words, following Islam is a requirement of being a human and is something which mind approves of and likes. Allâhu ta’âlâ cannot be thanked without His religion.
May hamd-u-thenâ[1] be to Allâhu ta’âlâ, who sends us all the conspicuous and invisible blessings, who shows us the way to safety, and who has honoured us by making us an Ummat of His beloved Prophet Muhammad ‘’alaihis-salâm’. Allâhu ta’âlâ is the only One who gives every blessing, every goodness to all creatures. He is the One who creates everything and who gives the blessing of existence. He is also the One who keeps everything in existence every moment. Perfect and good attributes are given to men through His mercy, through His sympathy. Our attributes of life, knowledge, hearing, seeing, power and speech are all from Him. He, alone, sends innumerable blessings. He is the One who saves people from troubles. He is the One who accepts prayers and rescues people from disasters. He is such a Razzâq[2] that He does not cut off the sustenance of His born slaves on account of their sins. His forgiveness and mercy is so plentiful that He does not disclose the ugliness of the faces of sinners. He is so lenient that He does not hurry in punishing His born slaves. He is so bounteous that He showers His favours and blessings upon everybody, whether beloved or hostile. And, as the most honourable, the most valuable and the highest of all His blessings, He teaches Islam to His born slaves clearly, and shows them the way He likes. He so kindly commands them to attain endless bliss by following the highest of creatures. Thus, His blessings and favours are clearer than the sun and more conspicuous than the moon. Also, He is the One who sends the blessings that come through others. Others’ favours are similar to the custodian’s entrusting something to another person for safekeeping. To ask anything from somebody else means to expect something from a poor person. An ignorant person as well as a learned one knows this. A blockhead as well as a clever person understands it.
[Disbelievers’ and murtadds’, [1] performing deeds compatible with the Ahkâm-i-islâmiyya in order to get some of their desires may be useful for them and cause them to live happily in comfort in the world, yet it will not give them any benefit in the Hereafter, for they have not been honoured with îmân. It is necessary to have îmân so that one’s worships may be accepted and one may earn rewards for one’s good deeds. It is written in Ifsâh: “The most valuable of worships are those that are fard-i-’ayn. After the fards the most valuable ones are the Sunnat prayers of namâz, according to the Shâfi’î Madhhab; jihâd, according to the Hanbalî Madhhab; learning and teaching knowledge and then jihâd, according to the Hanafî and Mâlikî Madhhabs.”]
To pay zakât is to do Allah’s command. But alms and favours are mostly intended to earn fame, reverence and the sensual desires of the nafs. When one does the fard, hypocrisy or ostentation do not get mixed with the action. But there is a lot of ostentation in supererogatory worships. It is for this reason that zakât should be paid publicly. Thereby one will be safe from being slandered. The supererogatory alms should be given secretly, which will increase the probability that it will be accepted (by Allah). In short, to be safe from the harm of the world, there is no other way than holding fast to the Ahkâm-i-islâmiyya. Those who cannot cease from worldly pleasures completely should abandon them at least supposedly; in other words, they should think of themselves as having forsaken the world. And for doing this, one should adapt one’s every action and each word to the Ahkâm-i-islâmiyya.
First of all, it is necessary to learn the belief which the Ahl-as sunnat savants – may Allâhu ta’âlâ give them plenty of blessings for their ceaseless efforts – teach and write in books, and to correct the îmân in accordance with their teachings. Then we should learn the rules of Fiqh (the commands and prohibitions of Islam). We should be steady in doing the fards and be careful about the halâls and harâms. Supererogatory acts of worship are worth nothing when compared to the fards.
To have îmân is very easy. It is not necessary to give money to a certain place, to give goods, to do hard work, to receive permission from someone. Additionally, it is not necessary to declare it openly and to inform someone about your îmân. Îmân consists of learning six things and believing in them through the heart in a secret way. A person who has îmân will be submissive to Allâhu ta’âlâ’s commandments. In other words, he will willingly obey them without any compulsion. Thus, he will become a Muslim. In short, every Believer (Mu’min) is a Muslim. Every Muslim is a Believer.]
[Billions of people have lived in this world. They have lived for a certain time period; afterwards, they have died. Some of them were rich, some were poor. Some of them were beautiful, some ugly. Some of them were cruel and some of them were kind. All of their characteristics are now non-existent and forgotten. Some were Believers – Muslims. The remaining ones were disbelievers – kâfirs. All of them will either be non-existent eternally or after Doomsday those who do not believe will be tormented eternally. But there will be no torment for those who are Believers. Disbelievers will experience an everlasting and extremely severe punishment. Those who will pass away as Believers are now at ease, and they are experiencing inner happiness. As for disbelievers, they are in fear of the prospects of burning in fire eternally. O, man, think carefully! A few years from now, you will be one of them. At that time, all of your life, activities and painstaking efforts will be an image or dream, as is the case with the years that have passed. Therefore, which group do you want to belong in? You cannot say that you do not want to belong to either group, which is impossible. You will be among either one at any rate. Even if it is merely a probability, do you want to be burned eternally in a fire? Wisdom, knowledge, and science prevent the rejection of the existence of Allah and a belief regarding Paradise and Hell. They cannot say that such things cannot happen. Those who do not believe are unable to show any documents or evidence supporting their rejection. However, the evidences that prove belief to be inevitable are innumerable. World libraries are full of books which spell out these proofs. Deceived by their nafs and pleasures, they reject. They think of nothing except their pleasures. However, Islam does not prohibit pleasure itself. It prohibits the hazardous effects of certain pleasures. Therefore, a person who has wisdom will obtain his pleasure through the means shown by Allâhu ta’âlâ. He will be equipped with the superior morality of Islam. He will be helpful to everyone. He will respond to malice with goodness. Should he fail to be good, he will be patient, in the least. He will not be destructive; he will be constructive. Thus, he will attain his pleasures, comfort and peace of mind. Besides, he will be spared the eternal torments of the next world. It is a proven fact that to be a Muslim and to have îmân are prerequisites for peace of mind and happiness
Yâ Rabbî! Grant us the lot of doing the things which Thou like! As alms for Muhammad Mustafâ ‘’alaihi wa ’alaihim wa ’alâ âli kullin min-as-salawâti afdâluhâ wa min-atteslîmâti akmaluhâ’, who is the highest and master of Prophets, the head of the travellers along the way of greatness and honour, do not make us cease from being in Thine religion and from obeying Thee!
Some great savants said: “If a person does not know the following ten things as fard for himself, he will not be a man of perfect wara’: he should not backbite; he should not feel sû’i-zân for Muslims, which means to distrust them and to think of them as bad persons; he should not make fun of anybody; he should not look at women and girls (that are forbidden for him by Islam); he should tell the truth; he should think of the gifts and blessings which Allâhu ta’âlâ has bestowed upon him so that he will not be self-conceited; he should spend his property in manners and for things that are halâl; he should not spend them for harâms; he should desire positions and posts not for his nafs or for his comfort, but because he knows them as positions for serving Muslims; he should know it as his first duty to perform the five daily prayers of namâz within their prescribed times; he should learn very well îmân and the deeds taught by the Ahlas-sunnat savants and adapt himself to them. Yâ Rabbî! Increase the light of the right way which you have bestowed upon us! Forgive us! You are the Almighty!”
” Our Prophet said to Abû Hurayra ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’: “Be a man of wara’ so that you may be the most ’âbid (devoted) of human beings.” Hadrat Hasan-i Basrî ‘rahmatullâhi ’alaih’ says: “Attaining wara’ as much as a mote is more useful than a thousand supererogatory fasts and prayers of namâz.” Abû Hurayra ‘radiyAllâhu ’anh’ said: “On the Day of Rising, those who are valuable in the presence of Allâhu ta’âlâ are people of wara’ and zuhd.” Allâhu ta’âlâ said to Hadrat Mûsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’: “Among those who become close to Me and who attain My love, there will not be anyone who approaches as close as people of wara’ do.”
Our Prophet stated: “Allâhu ta’âlâ declares: ‘O My born slave! Do the fard that I command; you will be the most devoted of human beings. Avoid the harâm which I prohibit; you will be a man of wara’. Be contented with the sustenance that I give you; you will be the wealthiest of human beings; you will not need anybody.’
Abdullah Ibni Mubârak said: “To return one cent that has been obtained through means that is harâm to its owner is more blessed than giving a hundred cents as alms.” Our savants state: “To return one cent that has been taken unjustly to its owner is more blessed than six hundred times of supererogatory Hajj (pilgrimage) that have been accepted.” Yâ Rabbî! We have wronged ourselves. If you do not pity us, if you do not forgive us, we will fall into a very bad situation!
He stated in a hadîth: “Musawwifs have perished.” That is, those who put off tawba by saying, “I will make tawba later on,” have suffered a loss. Loqman Hakîm ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’ was a Walî or a Prophet. He advised his son by saying: “Sonny, do not put off tawba until tomorrow. For, death catches one abruptly.” Imâm-i Mujâhid says: “The person who does not say tawba every morning and every evening torments himself.”
Hadrat Alî ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’ said: “Hadrat Abû Bekr ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’ always told the truth. I heard him say that Rasûlullah had stated: ‘If a person who has committed a sin repents and performs abdast and then performs namâz and then says istighfâr for that sin of his, Allâhu ta’âlâ will certainly forgive him; Allâhu ta’âlâ declares in the hundred and ninth âyat of Sûrat-un-Nisâ: ‘If a person commits a sin or torments himself and then repents and says istighfâr, he will find Allâhu ta’âlâ very merciful and forgiving’.” Rasûlullah said in a hadîth: “If a person commits a sin and then makes tawba, this tawba of his becomes an atonement for his sin. That is, it causes him to be forgiven.” He stated in a hadîth: “If the sinful person says istighfâr and repents, then does that sin again, then says istighfâr and repents again, and then does it a third time and repents again, it will be written down as a grave sin when he commits it the fourth time.”
If human rights are involved in a sin, for making tawba, one should pay back the wronged person’s rights immediately, ask for his forgiveness, do him favours and invoke blessings on him. If the person who has been deprived of his rights is dead, one should say prayers and istighfâr for him, pay his rights back to his inheritors, and do them favours. If his children or other inheritors are not known, one should distribute money equaling the property or indemnity (against loss of life) to the poor and to the miskins [1] as alms, and intending that its reward be given to the owner of the rights, who has been wronged.
Commandments of Allâhu ta’âlâ or called fard (or farz), and His interdictions are called harâm. It is worship to perform the fards and avoid (doing) the harâms. Allâhu ta’âlâ loves worshippers. He declares in the Qur’ân al-kerîm that in the Hereafter He will put them into Paradise and give them infinite blessings. The Qur’ân al-kerîm is the Word of Allah. It is not human word. A person who commits a harâm will burn in Hell. Harâms vary in degrees. There will be a severe punishment for a grave harâm. One of the grave harâms is not to perform the five daily prayers of namâz within their prescribed times. A person who denies the fact that namâz is a fard will become a kâfir (unbeliever). A kâfir is not a Muslim. He will burn eternally in Hell. A person who omits namâz because of laziness although he believes in it will not become a kâfir. He is called fâsiq. A person who is fâsiq is still a Muslim. Because he has sinned (by omitting namâz), he will burn in Hell for some time. If a person has not performed a certain prayer of namâz within its prescribed time, it is fard for him to make qadâ of it, (which means to perform a certain act of worship later, afterwards.
Our valuable lives are passing in committing sins, making mistakes, and doing what is wrong. Therefore, it will be pleasant for us to converse on tawba, on hanging the head in shame towards Allâhu ta’âlâ, and to talk about wara’ and taqwâ. Allâhu ta’âlâ declares in the thirty-first âyat of Sûrat-un-Nûr: “O Believers! Make tawba and ask Allah’s pardon, you all! You can be saved only if you make tawba.” He declares in the eighth âyat of Sûrat-ut-Tahrîm, which is at the end of the twenty-eighth juz’ (section) of the Qur’ân: “O, you, chosen people who have îmân! Return to Allâhu ta’âlâ! Repent sincerely! That is, do not break your repentance! If you repent in this manner, maybe your Allah will forgive you and will put you into Paradise, where there are trees and villas beneath which water flows.” He declares in the hundred and twentieth âyat of Sûrat-ul-An’âm: “Avoid sins, whether they are evident or secret.” It is fard-i ’ayn[1] for everybody to repent for their sins. Nobody can escape tawba. How can anyone ever escape it, despite the fact that all Prophets ‘’alaihimussalawâtu watteslîmât’ used to make tawba? Muhammad ‘’alaihi wa ’alaihimussalawât’, who was the final and the greatest of all, stated: “A curtain [that prevents divine lights from coming] gets drawn across my heart. Therefore, I say istighfâr [2] seventy times each day.”
Amr-i ma’rûf can be performed in two ways. One is through speaking, writing and any other means of communication. However, with this method, fitna may occur if one has an insufficient amount of knowledge, or if disrespect is shown to the people being addressed, or to their traditions or laws. The other approach is to be an exemplary person in your behaviour by adopting the superior morality of Islam. In the present time, a similing face, a friendly manner, obeying the laws, paying your taxes and debts, and not despising anyone or violating anyone’s property, rights or chastity is a most efficient and beneficial method of teaching Islam to others. For this reason, it is said that “lisân-ul-hâl antaqu min lisan-il-qâl,” which means the language of the body and behaviour, without making use of words, is superior to languge itself. Therefore, to live in concordance with the superior morality of Islam is the best way of performing Amr-i ma’rûf and Nahy-i-munkar. It is to carry out an important fard; it is to perform an ’ibâdat.
They are fard [commanded] in the Qur’ân and hadîths.The commandments are for everybody. They are not only for some people. Prophets, Awliyâ, savants and the ignorant are equal in carrying out the commandments. Let us repeat that it depends on following the Prophets to be saved from Hell and to attain endless bliss. Whatsoever the Awliyâ obtain in the name of Wilâyat, love, ma’rifat, and qurb-i ilâhî [1] they obtain it as a reward for following the Prophets. What is other than this way is the way of deviation, of the devil. ’Abdullah Ibni Mas’ûd ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anhumâ’ says: “One day, the Prophet drew a straight line for us and said, ‘This is the right way which makes man attain Allah’s grace.’ Then, drawing some slanting lines like fish-bones on both sides of that line, he said, ‘And these are the ways which the devil makes one deviate into,” Therefore, if a person wants to walk on the right way without adapting himself to the Prophets, certainly he will deviate into slanting ways. If he obtains something, it is istidrâj. That is, it ends in loss and harm. Hadrat ’Ubaydullah-i Ahrâr ‘quddisa sirruh’ said: “If they gave me all the kashfs and hâls that are experienced through the heart, and yet if they did not ornament my heart with the Ahl-i sunnat creed, I would deem myself destroyed, ruined. If they piled up all the disasters and desolations upon me, yet if they honoured my heart with the creed of the Ahl-i sunnat wa-l-jamâ’at, I would never worry.”
All the Prophets, the Ashâb-i kirâm, the Tâbi’în and the Salaf'i sâlihîn ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anhum ajma’în’ strove very much to perform Amr-i ma’rûf and Nahy-i munkar. They endured much torment and torture for this cause. If it were good in our religion not to interfere with anybody, it would not have been said that it was a symptom of îmân for the heart to refuse a sin. Indeed, it is stated in a hadîth: “Prevent the sinner from sinning with your hand. If you are unable to do so, prevent him through words. If you cannot do so either, dislike it [the sin] through your heart! And this is the lowest grade of îmân.” If it were good not to perform Amr-i ma’rûf, the worshipper who would not do Amr-i ma’rûf to a sinning tribe would not be destroyed together with them. As a matter of fact, it is declared in a hadith: “Allâhu ta’âlâ commanded Hadrat Jabraîl to sink a city into the earth. Jabraîl said, ‘Yâ Rabbî! A born slave of Thine in that city has not disobeyed Thee even for a moment. He has always obeyed and worshipped Thee;’ ‘Sink him, too! His face never changed when he saw sinners’.”
Shaikh-i Akbar Muhyiddîn-i ’Arabî ‘quddisa sirruh’ was a Sâhib-i ithnâd[2] in the knowledge of Hadîth and was in the grade of ijtihad in the knowledge of Fiqh. He used to say, “With our Prophet’s command, ‘Call yourself to account (for your conduct) before you are called to account,’ some shaikhs call themselves to account every day and every night for what they have done. I have surpassed them in this accounting; I call myself to account for what I have thought as well as for what I have done.” Sultân-ul-’Ârifîn Bâyazîd-i Bestâmî and Sayyid-ut-tâifa Junayd-i Baghdâdî ‘quddisa sirruhumâ’, who may be said to be the founders and the leaders of Wahdat-i wujûd, adapted themselves to the Ahkâm-i-islâmiyya from head to toe. When Bâyazîd performed namâz, the rattling of the bones in his chest would be heard.
When Allâhu ta’âlâ asked Hadrat Mûsâ, “What did you do for Me?” he answered, “O my Allah, for you I performed namâz, fasted, paid zakât, and mentioned Your Name very much.” Upon this, Allâhu ta’âlâ declared, “O Mûsâ! Your prayers (namâz) are documents for you. Your fastings are a shield against Hell. The zakât is a shade that protects you against the heat of the day of the Last Judgment. Your mentioning My Name very much is a light that will illuminate you in the darkness of the grave and the Rising. That is, all these things are useful for you. What did you do for Me?” Hadrat Mûsâ entreated, “O my Allah! Tell me the worship which is for Thee!” Allâhu ta’âlâ declared in an âyat-i-kerîma, “O Mûsâ! Did you love those who loved Me for My sake, and did you feel hostility towards My enemies for My sake?” So, Hadrat Mûsâ realized that the good deed done for Allah was to love for His sake and to be hostile for His sake.
There are two kinds of medicine: Material medicine, and spiritual medicine. For curing all sorts of illness, giving alms and saying prayers are spiritual medicines. The hadiths, “Cure those among you that are ill by giving alms!” and “Reciting istighfar (saying ‘astaghfirullah’ = ‘Oh my Allah, forgive me!’) frequently is the medicine that cures any illness whatsoever.” There are quite a number of material medicines. They are learned through experiments. Use of spiritual medicine is helpful in finding material medicine as well. So is the case with attaining the blessings of the next world. Allahu Taala made disbelief and ignorance poisons fatal to the heart and soul, and laziness makes the soul sick; if medicine is not used, the soul will become sick and die. The one and only medicine for disbelief and ignorance is knowledge (marifa). The medicine for laziness is the performance of salat and every kind of ibadat. In this world, if a person takes poison and says, ‘Allah is Merciful and protects me against the harm of poison,’ he will become ill and die. If a person with diarrhea drinks castor oil [or if a diabetic eats sugar or starchy food], he will get worse.
It is written in Mawdu at-ul-Ulum: “Teachings in the Quran alKarim are of three categories. The first category comprises facts which Allahu Taala has not imparted to anybody. Nobody besides Allahu Taala Himself knows Him, His Names and Attributes. The second type of knowledge He has intimated only to Prophet Muhammad (alaihi-salam). No one besides this exalted Prophet and the superior scholars, who are his inheritors, can explain this type of knowledge. Examples of this are the ayats called ‘mutas’habihat’.” The third category embodies teachings which He has communicated to His Prophet and has commanded him to teach them to his Umma (Muslims). This knowledge also is of two parts. The first part contains Qisas (histories), which describe the states of past people, and the Akhbar (news), which explains the things that He has created and will create in this world and in the next. These can be understood only after being explained by Rasulullah (sall Allahu alaihi wa sallam). They cannot be understood through mind or experience. The second type can be understood through mind, experience and by learning Arabic. Such is the case with deriving rules from the Quran al-Karim and understanding scientific knowledge. Imam Nasafi (rahmatullahi taala alaih) writes in Aqaid: “Meanings are to be given in accordance with the Arabic teachings.
In short, only Prophet Muhammad (alaihi-salam) understood the meaning of the Quran al-Karim and explained it in his hadiths. It is he who explained the Quran al-Karim. The correct book of explanations of the Quran al-Karim is his hadiths. By not sleeping or resting, by sacrificing all their free time, our religious scholars gathered these hadiths and wrote books of tafsir (explanations of the Quran al-Karim). The book of tafsir entitled Baydawi [1] is one of the most precious among them. To understand even these books of tafsir, it is necessary to learn the twenty main branches of knowledge well by working ceaselessly for thirty years. There are eighty subdivisions that are the branches of these twenty main branches of knowledge. One of the main branches is the science of tafsir. These branches of knowledge were conveyed by many scholars and multitude of books. Various Arabic words that are used today have different meanings in the science of fiqh than from the meanings which they have in the science of tafsir. Even the same word conveys various meanings, depending on its place in the Quran al-Karim and the particles it takes. The Quran alKarim’s translations by those who do not know these vast branches of knowledge or made according to today’s Arabic convey meanings far from the meanings in the Quran al-Karim. A person understands the hints, the signs from the symbols in the Quran al-Karim in proportion to the strength of their iman. Tafsir is not something done simply by writing or by expressing in words. Tafsir is a nur (radiance) that occurs to the hearts of great religious men. The books of Tafsir are the keys to this radiance. As jewels are revealed when one unlocks the safe with a key, in a similar way the radiance occurs to the heart by reading those tafsirs. Those who knew the eighty branches of knowledge well understood the Tafsirs and, in order to explain them to religiously ignorant people as we are, they wrote thousands of books suitable for people of various categories. Valuable Turkish Tafsirs such as Mawakib, Tibyan, Abulleys are among them
Escaping torment in the next world is dependent only upon following Muhammad (alaihi-salam). He who follows the way guided by him will attain the love of Allahu Taala. Those who follow in his footsteps will be close to Allahu Taala. He who adapts himself to him will get the happiness of being a faithful human creature of Allahu Taala. The greatest ones of the more than a hundred and twenty-four thousand Prophets that came to the world desired to follow him. If Prophet Musa (Moses ‘alaihisalam) had lived in his time, despite his greatness, he would have preferred to follow him. All Muslims know that Prophet Isa (alaihi-salam) will descend from heaven and follow his way. Muslims who are of his umma (community of followers of a prophet) are the most auspicious and best of all people because they have adapted themselves to him. Most of those who will enter Paradise are from among them, and they will enter before all other people.
Allahu Taala has related iman (which is the basis of Islam) to experimentation and the intellect. That is, the building of Islam has been erected upon these two principles. All other worships, blessings, and forms of obedience are the branches and twigs of this tree of iman. Allahu Taala, at many places of the Quran alKarim, scolds and disgraces disbelievers because they didn’t use their minds; they didn’t think by observing the earth, the skies and themselves, so that they could have attained iman. The book Marifatnama writes: “Sayyid Sherif Jurjani, a great Islamic scholar, says that the knowledge of astronomy helps a wise and reasonable person to realize the existence of Allahu Taala. Imam al-Ghazali says that he who does not know astronomy and anatomy cannot realize Allahu Taala’s existence and power.”
A child is an entrustment in the hands of its parents. The child’s pure heart is like a precious gem. Like wax, a child can take any shape. When small, it has not taken any shape. It is like pure soil. You will reap what you sow in pure soil. If children are taught the tenets of iman, the Quran al-Karim and the commandments of Allahu Taala and accustomed to doing them, they will attain religious and worldly happiness. Their parents and teachers will share this happiness of theirs. If they are not taught and trained, they will become miserable. The sin of each evil they will commit will be given to their parents and teachers, too. Allahu Taala declares in the sixth ayat of Tahrim Sura: “Protect yourselves and those in your homes and under your command from the fire!” It is more important for a father to protect his children against the fire of Hell than against worldly fire. And to protect them against the fire of Hell is to teach them iman, the fard and the haram, to accustom them to worshipping, and to protect them against irreligious and immoral friends. The source of all kinds of immoral deeds is an evil friend. Our Prophet (sall-Allahu alaihi wa sallam), by stating, “All children are born fit and suitable for Islam. Later, their parents make them Christians, Jews, or irreligious,” indicates that both for the settlement and for the annihilation of Islam the most important work on children can be done when they are still young. Then, the first duty of each Muslim is to teach their children Islam and the Quran al-Karim. The child is a great blessing. If the blessing is not appreciated, it will be lost. Therefore, pedagogy, that is the science of teaching children, is a very valuable science in the Islamic religion.
There are innumerable things in the Quran al-Karim that nobody can do or say. We will explain six of them here: Firstly: Ijaz, and balaghat. This means to convey many facts smoothly and perfectly in few words. Secondly: Though its letters and words are like Arabic letters and words, the prayers, that is, words and sentences, are quite unlike the words, poems and orations of Arabs. The Quran alKarim is not human word: it is Allahu Taala’s word. The comparison of human words to the Quran al-Karim is like the resemblance of pieces of glass to diamonds. After understanding this very well, philologists admit it. Thirdly: A person does not become bored with the Quran alKarim, no matter how much one reads it. Desire, zeal, love and......................................Sixthly: Allahu Taala has explained the Ulum-i-awwalin the Ulum-i-akhirin in the Quran al-Karim, knowledge which nobody can know at any time. The fact that the Quran al-Karim is a mujiza (miracle) is explained very well in the book Herkese Lazim Olan Iman (Iman Which is Necessary for Everybody), published by Hakikat Publishing in the Turkish and English languages, and in the sixteenth letter of the third volume of the book Maktubat Mathumiyya. The translations of this letter exist at the end of the Turkish book Cevab Veremedi and English book Could Not Answer.
Allahu Taala has gathered in His darling all the visible and invisible advantages, all the superior traits and all that is beautiful and which can exist in a person. For example, his face was the most beautiful among all human beings and was very luminous. His blessed face was white mixed with red and shone like the moon. His words were so sweet that they pleased hearts and attracted souls. His wisdom was so great that, although he came from among the very violent and obstinate people of the Arabic Peninsula, he handled them very well, endured their persecutions and thus brought them to tenderness and obedience. Many of them abandoned their religions and converted to Islam; for the cause of Islam, they even fought against their fathers and children. For his (the Prophet’s) sake they sacrificed their property and homelands and shed their own blood. However, they were not used to such things. He was so good-tempered, so tender, so forgiving, so patient, so kind and so benevolent that everybody admired him. Those who saw him or heard about him, became Muslims willingly. No unseemliness or defect was ever noted in any of his actions, in any of his words. Though, for his own sake, he never became offended with anybody, he was harsh and severe against those who spoke ill of or laid hands on the religion. If he hadn’t been tender and affable towards everybody, it would have been beyond anybody’s strength to sit beside him or to listen to him owing to his awe-inspiring prophethood and his great manners (sall-Allahu taala alaihi wa sallam). Despite the fact that he had not read or learned anything from anybody, that he had never written anything, and that he had come from people who did not travel and who knew nothing of past history and of those around them, he communicated facts written in the Tawrat (the book which was revealed to Prophet Musa ‘alaihi-salam) and the Injil (the real Bible) and in all other heavenly books. He conveyed information about the states of ancient people. Giving evidences and proofs, he silenced all the notables of every religion and every profession. He put forward the greatest mujiza (a Prophet’s miracle), the Quran al-Karim, and he made the challenge: “You cannot express anything like even one of its six thousand and two hundred and thirty-six ayats (verses),” nobody was able to meet his challenge, though all the enemies of Islam all over the world co-operated and poured out their possessions and wealth in order to do this for more than fourteen hundred years. And today, Jews, priests and masonic lodges, however hard they are striving, by spending millions and using all their forces cannot compete with it. In the early days of Islam, the Arabs were much more advanced in literary arts such as poetry and eloquence than in any other area, so that most of their accomplishments were based on literature. Yet they had to admit that they would fall far short of saying anything to compete with the very powerful expressive style of the Quran al-Karim. Being unable to surpass the Quran al-Karim, many of them came to reason and converted to Islam. And the ones who did not believe had to fight in order to prevent Islam from spreading.
[As-sayyid Abdulhakim Arwasi (quddisa sirruh) said: “Every Prophet is superior to all his people in every respect, in his time, and in his place. Yet Muhammad (alaihi-salam) is the highest of all the creatures which have come and will come to the world from the day it was created until the last day of this world. No one is superior to him in any respect. This fact is not difficult to realize. Allahu Taala, who makes what He wills and what He likes, created him so. No person has power enough to adequately praise him. No human being is able to criticize him.” It is written in the preface of the book Marifatnama that Allahu Taala said: “Were it not for you, I would not have created the skies.” The same is also written in the sixth and thirteenth pages of the book Mawahib Ladunniyya and in the thirteenth and fifteenth pages of the book Enwar Muhammadiyya. This fact is also stated in the letters numbered 122 and 124 in the third volume of Maktubat by Imam Rabbani, and in the Persian annotation of that volume.
For adapting oneself to Muhammad (alaihi-salatu wassalam) completely and flawlessly, one needs to love him completely and without defect. The symptom of complete and perfect love is to bear hostility against his enemies, and to dislike those who dislike him. Love cannot include laxity. Lovers, being crazy about their darlings, cannot do anything against them. They cannot come to a mutual agreement with those who act against them. Love of two opposites cannot co-exist in the same heart. To love one of two opposites entails enmity towards the other. These worldly blessings are transient and deceitful. If they are yours today, they will be somebody else’s tomorrow. But those which will be obtained in the Hereafter are endless and will be earned in the world. If a few days’ life in this world is spent following Prophet Muhammad (alaihi-salam), who is the most valuable man in this world and the next, one may hope for endless bliss, eternal salvation. Otherwise, unless one adapts oneself to him, everything turns into nothing. Every good deed and act of kindness done without following him will remain here and nothing will be obtained in the Hereafter.
The aql is a power which examines and distinguishes the good and bad influences coming from the brain, the devil, and the nafs. During this process, if it can choose the good, it is called aql salim. Allahu Taala, by sending Prophets in addition, informed His human creatures about what is good and useful, what is bad and harmful, and that all the desires of the nafs are bad. The aql can discriminate between the desires of the nafs and the things which were stated to be useful by Prophets, and communicate this realization to the heart. If the heart prefers the thoughts which come from the aql, the desires of nafs will not be committed; that is, you will not let your limbs do that action. If one prefers and wishes to do the deeds which are said to be good according to the Ahkam Islamiya, one will attain bliss. The process of preferring and wishing good or evil with the heart is called Kasb. Human limbs of movement are dependent on the brain, and the brain is dependent on the heart. They act compatibly with the orders of the heart. The heart is a centre wherein all the influences coming from the sense organs, the spiritual influence of the soul, the nafs, aql, angels, memory and the devil are accumulated. Therefore, if the heart follows the aql, creation of the nafs will not prevent people from attaining eternal blessings. The heart not being deceived by and not obeying the nafs, is called Jihad Ekber (greatest jihad) against the nafs. Allahu Taala informs us that He will reward, with high degrees in Paradise, those that make jihad. Nafs can be the cause of people achieving the thawab of jihad, and becoming superior to angels.
Question: If Allahu Taala did not create the nafs, then people would have been free from being deceived. Nobody would have committed bad deeds and all would have gone to Paradise. Would it not be better?
Answer: Allahu Taala’s attributes of mercy and rage occur in all creatures and in all things in this world. While water is required for people, animals and plants to live, for cleansing, for preparing food and making medicine; it also causes thousands of people to drown in the seas and floods demolish homes. Drinking cold water causes one to become ill. As fire is necessary for cooking bread and other foods, and for keeping warm in the winter; fire also burns those things that fall into it. Although electricity is useful in many aspects, it can also cause fire and when it electrocutes a person it causes immediate death. Though every medicine is a cure for a certain ailment, excessive doses are harmful. Everything is like this. Nafs are also like this, having both beneficial and harmful sides. The creation of the nafs is intended for man’s living, multiplying, and working in the world, and for their earning thawab (reward promised and will be given in the next world by Allahu Taala as a recompense for the doing and saying of what He likes) of Jihad (striving or struggling to propagate [Ahl as-Sunna] Islam) for the Hereafter. Allahu Taala created the nafs for many such beneficial reasons. However, the nafs does not become satiated in eating and sexual pleasures. On the other hand, pitying all men, He created aql (reason, wisdom) in them. In addition, He sent commandments and prohibitions so that everyone could stop following their nafs, control it, avoid its harms, and thereby live in comfort
Allahu Taala gives favors, blessings, gifts, that is, His kindness reaches everybody every moment, good and evil people alike. Without discriminating, He sends everybody property, children, food, the right way to Islam, guidance, safety, and every goodness............................................As a matter of fact, it is purported in the fifty-sixth ayat of Muminun Sura: “Do disbelievers presume that We are doing them a favor or helping them by giving them property and many children? Do they say that We are rewarding them because they disbelieve my Prophet and dislike the Islamic religion? No, it is not the case. They are wrong. They do not understand that these are not blessings, but disasters.” Then, the worldly things that are given to those whose hearts have turned away from Allahu Taala are all desolation and calamity. They are like sweets given to the diabetic.
It is very easy not to commit a haram and to observe the rules of Islam. It seems difficult to the sick-hearted. Yes, there are many jobs that are easy for healthy people. Yet they are difficult for the sick. The sickness of the heart involves not believing in the Ahkam Islamiya in the full sense. Even if such people say that they believe, it is not a real confirmation. It is a confirmation through words. A symptom that indicates the existence of a real confirmation, true iman in the heart, is to feel it easy to follow the path of the Ahkam Islamiya.
Allahu Taala imposed three obligations on His human beings. The first one is a personal obligation. Every Muslim must be well trained, healthy, well mannered, and good tempered. They must perform their worships and learn knowledge, highmorality, and must work for halal sustenance. The second obligation is to be fulfilled within the family. One must observe the rights of one’s parents, children, and siblings. The third obligation concerns those which must be performed within the context of the society. These are the obligations relating to a Muslim’s neighbors, teachers, family, the people he employs, the government, the state, and people belonging to different religions and nationalities. It is a must to help everyone, not to insult or hurt anyone, to be helpful towards everybody, not to revolt against the state, the government, the laws, to observe everybody’s rights, and to pay taxes in time. Allahu Taala does not command us to interfere with governmental and state affairs. Allahu Taala commands us to help the government and to avoid provocation.] Then, Muslims should feel haya (bashful) towards Allahu Taala. Haya is from iman. The bashfulness peculiar to a Muslim is indispensably necessary.
Allahu Taala has established the Islamic religion in such a manner that it addresses every new development and invention in every country. Showing toleration and latitude not only in social life, but also in worships, the Islamic religion has given men freedom and the right of ijtihad (meaning or conclusion drawn by great scholars called mujtahids through endeavoring to understand the hidden meaning in an ayat karima or a Hadith sharif) when they confront with different conditions and necessities. During the times of Hazrat Umar, the Umayyads and such a big empire as the Ottoman Empire, large communities of various peoples, living over continents, were administered with these divine rules. Muslims’ accomplishments and glories have been famous throughout history. And in the future, every nation, big or small, will attain comfort, peace and happiness in proportion to the extent to which it obeys and practices these unchangeable divine rules. Nations and societies which deviate from the social and economic rules declared by Islam will not escape hardships, suffering and trouble. It is written in history that this has been so with nations in the past, and so will it certainly be in the future. History is repetitive. Muslims should attach great importance to national unity and solidarity; they should be extremely active materially and morally in making their country stronger; they should learn the teachings of the Islamic religion very well; they should abstain from haram; and they should pay their debts to Allahu Taala, the State and His human creatures. They should be embellished with the beautiful morals of Islam and should not cause harm to anybody. They should not be a means of agitation, that is they should not cause anarchy, and they should pay their taxes. Our religion, Islam, commands us to behave in that manner. The first obligation of a Muslim is to avoid being guilty of breaking State laws and going against Allahu Taala by sinning, by not following the devil or one’s nafs, and by not believing bad, insidious, disobedient and rebellious people.
Imam Ali (radiy-Allahu anh) said: “Muslims believe in the next world. Disbelievers without a heavenly book deny it. If there weren’t a rising, disbelievers would not gain anything and Muslims would not suffer any harm. But since what disbelievers believe will not happen, they will suffer eternal torment.” Islamic scholars prove their words true and respond to the attacks of disbelievers through reason, knowledge and science. Could resurrection be denied if Muslims did not prove their words to be true? Even if being under eternal torment were only a probability, whose wisdom would take the risk of it? Nevertheless, torment in the next world is not only a probability, but an obvious fact. Then, it is unwise not to believe.
Since Prophet Adam (alaihi-salam), they changed and denied the religions revealed in every century by saying that they were the words of ignorant primitive people. Such assertions made by disbelievers are quoted, and answered in many parts of the Quran al-Karim. For example, Allahu Taala says after the thirtieth ayat of Muminun Sura: “They didn’t believe Prophet Nuh (Noah ‘alaihi-salam’), so we drowned them in water. For the people we created after them, we sent a Prophet from amongst them and said, ‘Worship Allahu Taala. There is nobody other than Him to be worshipped. Fear His torment!’ Many of those who didn’t obey, who didn’t believe in the rising after death, and yet whom We had given plenty of worldly blessings, said to others, ‘This Prophet eats and drinks like you. If you believe someone who needs many things like you, you will be deceived and suffer a loss. The Prophet tells you that after dying and after your bones have rotted and turned into dust and soil you will be resurrected and get up from your graves. Is that ever possible? Whatever exists is in this world. Paradise and Hell are all in this world. This is the way it has been and this is the way it goes. There is no rising after death.”
It is impossible to escape torment in the Hereafter for those who deviate as much as a hair’s breadth from the creed and iman communicated by the Ahl as-Sunna scholars, the great and pious people. It is understood by the human mind, the Quran alKarim, all hadith sharifs and the great religious men’s perceptions through the eye of their hearts. There is no possibility of this being wrong. Words and books of those who deviate as much as a hair’s breadth from what these great people communicated in their books are poisons. Zindiqs who use the religion as a means in order to earn worldly possessions and who, after introducing themselves as men of religion, write whatever occurs to their minds, are thieves of faith. They steal the beliefs of those who read their books and magazines. Those who believe them think of themselves as Muslims and perform salat. However, because their iman has been stolen and lost, none of their prayers, worships or good deeds are accepted, nor will they be of any value in the next world. Concerning those who sell their religion for the world, Allahu Taala revealed the sixteenth ayat of Baqara Sura: “Those that are ignorant and idiots gave away their religion in order to get the pleasures and enjoyments of the world. Selling out their next world, they received the world and what their lusts desired. Abandoning the way to salvation, they ran after perdition. They earned nothing in this act of buying and selling of theirs. They didn’t know the way of trading or earning. They lost a great deal.”
The first thing necessary for all people is to have iman and the creed of the Ahl as-Sunna scholars as communicated in their books. It is these scholars who have explained the way of our Prophet Muhammad (alaihi-salam), who have comprehended murad-i ilahi (the divine purpose) of the Quran al-Karim, and who have extracted the Prophet’s purpose from the hadith sharifs. It is the way shown by them that will save us on the Day of Rising. It is the Ahl as-Sunna scholars who have transferred the way of Allah Taala’s Prophet and his companions (radiy Allahu taala anhum ajmain) into books and who have protected them against being changed or defiled. 5 – Those scholars in the four Madhhabs who reached the grade of ijtihad and the great scholars educated by them are called the Ahl as- Sunna scholars. The leader and the founder of the Ahl as-Sunna is (Imam azam Abu Hanifa Numan bin Thabit ‘radiy Allahu taala anh). 6 – Sahl bin Abdullah Tusturi (rahmatullahi alaih), one of the great Awliya (plural for wali, one loved by Allahu Taala) who reached the grade of haqiqat (the highest grade in Tasawwuf), says: “If there had been a person like Imam Azam Abu Hanifa (rahmatullahi taala alaih) among the ummats of Prophet Musa and Isa (alaihimus-salatu was-salam), they wouldn’t have turned into Jews or Christians.” 7 – Millions of books written by Imam Azam Abu Hanifa (rahmatullahi taala alaih) and by hundreds of his disciples and by the thousands of great people educated by them, correctly spread and promulgate our Prophet’s way all over the world. Today, there is not a city, a village or a person left in the free world that has not heard about the Islam communicated by our Prophet. Now, Islam can be easily learned anywhere in the world through the internet. Upon hearing about Islam, if someone sincerely wants to learn it correctly, Allah Taala promises that He will grant them true knowledge. There are publications giving the names of the books on Islam that fill the world’s libraries.
Allahu Taala declares in the Quran al-Karim, in the eightieth ayat of Nisa Sura that obedience to Prophet Muhammad (alaihi-salam) is obedience to Him. Then, unless His Messenger is obeyed, He will not be obeyed. In order to make it known that this is absolutely certain and clear, He declared in an ayat Karima: “Of course, it is certainly so.” Thus He gave no opportunity for some people who cannot think properly to see these two orders as obedience different from each other. Again, stating dissatisfaction with those who look on these two orders of obedience as two different things, in the 150th and 151st ayats of Nisa Sura of the Quran al-Karim, Allahu Taala declares: “The disbelievers want to differentiate Allahu Taala’s commands from His Prophets’ commands. They (Jews) say they believe in Musa (Prophet Moses ‘alaihi-salam), but they do not believe in others (Prophet Isa and Muhammed ‘alaihimus-salatu was-salam). They (Christians) say they believe in Jesus (Prophet Isa ‘alaihi-salam) and call him the son of Allah (may Allahu Taala protect us from such an aberrant belief). These beliefs are of no value. All of them are disbelievers. For all of them we have prepared Hell with very bitter torments.”
[Allahu Taala declares in many places of the Quran al-Karim that this is so. For example, He declares in the thirty-first ayat of Ali Imran Sura: “Oh my beloved Prophet (sall-Allahu alaihi wa sallam)! Tell them, ‘If you love Allahu Taala and if you want Allahu Taala to love you in turn, adapt yourselves to me! Allahu Taala loves those who adapt themselves to me’.”] Allahu Taala does not like any of the things that are incompatible with the Ahkam Islamiya. Is it possible that rewards will be given for the things that are disliked?
To have iman means to begin following Prophet Muhammad (alaihi-salam) and to enter through the door of bliss. Allahu Taala sent him to invite all the people of the world to bliss and declared in the twenty-eighth ayat of Saba Sura: “Oh my beloved Prophet! (sall-Allahu alaihi wa sallam) I sent you to humanity so that you should give the good news of endless bliss to all the people in the world and to guide them along this way to happiness.”
It is called ibadat (worship) to do the fard and sunna and to avoid the haram and makruh, that is, to observe the rules of Islam in order to attain Allahu Taala’s love and receive thawab (rewards in the hereafter). There is no worship without an intention. In other words, it is necessary first to have iman and then to learn and observe the rules of Islam in order to follow Prophet Muhammad (alaihi-salam).
Then, the thing which is of the highest necessity, which is the most important fard for every Muslim, is to learn iman, the fard and the haram. There is no Islam unless these are learned. Iman cannot be maintained, the debts to Allahu Taala and to human beings cannot be paid, intentions and morals cannot be corrected and purified unless the basic principles of Islam are learned. Unless correctly intended, no fard will be accepted. It was declared in a hadith in ad-Durr-ul-Mukhtar: “Learning or teaching knowledge for one hour is more blessed than worshipping until morning.” The author of the book Hadarat-ul-quds states on the ninety-ninth page: “I studied the books Bukhari, Mishkat, Hidaya and Sherh-imawaqif under Hazrat Imam Rabbani’s (rahmatullahi alaih) supervision. He would encourage young people to acquire knowledge. ‘Knowledge first, and tariqat next,’ he would say. Noticing my shirking from knowledge and taking pleasure from tariqat, he pitied me and advised me, ‘Read books! Acquire knowledge! An ignorant pious muslim will be a plaything in the hands of the devil,’ [that is, the rank of knowledge is the highest of all ranks.]”
It is written in the seventy-third page of the book Mir’at ulMaqasid concerning an intention for an abdast (ritual ablution, wudu) in Ibni Abiddin (rahmatullahi alaih) and in the fifty-fourth page in the translation of Milal-Nihal that there are three kinds of actions: The first is masiyyat, that is, sinful actions. These are the actions which Allahu Taala dislikes. It is masiyyat not to do what Allahu Taala has commanded to be done, or to do what He has prohibited. The second one is taat, those actions which Allahu Taala likes. They are also called Hasana. He has promised that He will give Ajr, that is, thawab (blessings in the Here-after) to a Muslim who performs taat. The third group of actions are called Mubah, which have not been declared to be sinful or taat. They are taat or sinful depending on the intention of the person who does them. Sins are not exempted from being sins if they are committed with or without a good intention. The hadith, “Actions are good or bad depending on the intention,” declares that the taat and mubah actions will be given rewards in accordance with the intention. If a person, in order to please someone, offends another person, or gives alms from someone else’s property, or builds mosques or schools with haram money, they will not be given rewards. It will be ignorance to expect rewards for these efforts. Cruelty and sins are still sins even if they are committed with goodwill. What is blessed about such actions lies in not doing them. If one does them knowing that they are sins, it will become a grave sin. If one does them without knowing, it will be a sin also not to know or not to learn the things that are known by most Muslims. Even in Dar alharb (those countries not under Islamic rule) it is not an excuse, but a sin, not to know the Islamic rules which are widely known. When the taats are done without an intention or intended for Allahu Taala’s sake, blessings are given.
Religion means the way prescribed by Allahu Taala in order to guide people to endless bliss. The unwholesome ways which people make up under the name of religion are not called religion; they are called irreligiousness and disbelief. Since the time of Prophet Adam (alaihi-salam), Allahu Taala has sent mankind a religion by means of a Prophet every thousand years. These Prophets (sall-Allahu alaihi ajmain) are called Rasul. On the other hand, in every century, by making the purest person the Prophet, He has strengthened the religion through him. These Prophets who followed the Rasuls are called Nabi. All the Prophets have taught the same iman; they have asked their umma (community of followers of a prophet) to believe in the same tenets. Yet, since their Sharias, that is, the things that are to be done and avoided through the heart and body, were different, they were different in being Muslims. Those who have iman and adapts themselves to the Ahkam Islamiya is a Muslim. Those who want to adapt the Ahkam Islamiya to their desires and pleasures are disbelievers. They don’t understand that Allahu Taala has sent religion in order to break the desires and pleasures of the nafs (a force in people that is enemious to Allahu Taala) and to prevent their excessive indulgence. Every subsequent religion (religious system, devine order) has abolished or changed the religion previous to itself. The latest religion that has changed all the religions prior to it, which has assimilated all the previous Sharias within itself, and which will never change until the end of the world is Prophet Muhammad’s (alaihi-salam) religion. Today, the religion which Allahu Taala likes and loves is the Islamic religion, which is based on these rules and essentials. To those who perform the fard and abstain from the haram, which this Sharia communicates, Allahu Taala will bestow blessings and favors in the Hereafter. That is, they will receive thawab (rewards in the Here-after). For those who do not perform the fard and do not abstain from the haram, there are punishments and suffering in the next world.
It must be believed that there will be shafaa (intercession). Prophets, walis, pious Muslims, angels and those who are allowed by Allahu Taala will intercede for the forgiveness of small and great sins of Muslims who die without having repented, and their intercession will be accepted. [Our Prophet (sall-Allahu Taala alaihi wa sallam) stated: “I will intercede for, among my Umma, those who commit great sins.”] In the next world, intercession will be of five sorts: Firstly, the sinful, becoming tired of the crowd and of waiting so long at the place of Judgment, will wail and ask that the Judgment start as soon as possible. There will be intercession for this. Secondly, there will be intercession so that the questioning will be done easily and fast. Thirdly, there will be intercession for the sinful Muslims so that they shall not fall off the Sirat into Hell and so that they shall be saved from torture in Hell. Fourthly, there will be intercession for taking seriously sinful Muslims out of Hell. Fifthly, there will be intercession for the promotion of Muslims to a higher grade in Paradise where, although there will be innumerable favors and an eternal stay, there will be eight grades and every person’s grade will be in proportion to the degree of their belief and deeds.
There will be a bridge called Sirat (path, pass) which will be built over Hell upon Allahu Taala’s command. Everybody will be ordered to cross that bridge. That day, all prophets will entreat: “Oh Allah! Protect us!” People who are to go to Paradise will cross the bridge easily and reach Paradise. Some of them will pass with the speed of lightning, some with that of wind, and some others like a galloping horse. The Sirat Bridge will be thinner than a hair and sharper than a sword. Adapting yourself to Islam in this world has a similar aspect; adapting yourself precisely to Islam is like crossing the Sirat. Those who endure the difficulty of struggling with their sensual desires (influenced by the nafs) here will cross the Sirat easily there. Those who do not follow Islam because of the nafs will cross the Sirat with difficulty. For this reason, the right path pointed out by Islam is called the “Sirat al-Mustaqim” (the True Path) by Allahu Taala. This similarity in names shows that staying within Islam’s path is like crossing the Sirat. Those who deserve Hell will fall off the Sirat down into Hell.
Muhammad (alaihi-salam) is the highest of prophets and is Allahu Taala’s compassion for all creatures. Eighteen thousand worlds of beings receive benefit from his ocean of blessings. By consensus, he is the Prophet for all human beings and genies. Many reports state that he is the Prophet for angels, plants, animals and for every substance. While other prophets had been sent to certain tribes in certain countries, Rasulullah (alaihi-salam) was and is the Prophet of all classes of beings and all the living and lifeless creatures. Allahu Taala had addressed other Prophets by their names. As for Muhammad (alaihi-salam), Allahu Taala favored him by addressing him, “Oh My Prophet!” The like of every miracle that had been granted to other prophets was presented to him. Allahu Taala bestowed upon the Beloved Prophet more gifts and granted him more miracles than those that had been granted to any other prophet. He was made superior to all prophets with countless honors and excellences: the moon split into two when he made a sign with his blessed finger; the stones in his palm uttered the Name of Allah; trees greeted him by saying, “Oh Rasulallah”; the dry log named Hannana cried because Rasulullah (alaihi-salam) walked away and left it alone; pure water flowed from between his blessed fingers; the high grades of al-Maqam al-Mahmud (praise and glory), ashShafa’at al-kubra (intercession), al-Hawd al-Kawthar (white as milk, river or pond of abundant goodness in Paradise where the umma of Rasulullah ‘alaihis-salam will be gathered on the Day of Judgement) , al-Wasila (means of approach) and al-Fadila (virtuous) were to be given to him in the Hereafter; he had the honor of seeing Allahu Taala’s Jamal before entering Paradise [during the Mi’raj]; he had the most beautiful moral quality in the world, the most perfect faith, knowledge, gentleness, patience, gratitude, zuhd (turning away from worldly things), chastity, justness, heroism, bashfulness, bravery, modesty, wisdom, beautiful manners, helpfulness, mercy and inexhaustible honors and honorable traits. No one but Allahu Taala knows the number of miracles given to him. His religion abrogated all religions. His religion is the best and highest of all religions. His umma is higher than all other ummas. The awliya of his umma are more honorable than the awliya of other ummas.
The number of prophets (alaihimus-salam; invocation, wishing peace be upon Prophets) is not known. It is widely known that there were more than 124,000. Of them, 313 or 315 were rasuls; the six higher rasuls among them, called ‘Ulul-azm’, were: Adam, Nuh (Noah), Ibrahim (Abraham), Musa (Moses), Isa (Jesus) and Muhammad Mustafa (alaihimus-salatu was-salam). The following 33 prophets are well-known: Adam, Idris (Enoch), Sheth (Shis), Nuh (Noah), Hud (Heber), Salih (Methusaleh), Ibrahim (Abraham), Lut (Lot), Ismail (Ishmael), Ishaq (Isaac), Yaqub (Jacob), Yusuf (Joseph), Ayyub (Job), Shuaib (Jethro), Musa (Moses), Harun (Aaron), Khidir, Yusha ibn Nun (Joshua), Ilyas (Elias), Alyasa (Elisha), Dhul-kifl (Ezekiel), Shamun, Ishmoil (Ismail), Yunus ibn Mata (Jonah), Dawud (David), Sulaiman (Solomon), Luqman, Zakariyya (Zachariah), Yahya (John the Baptist), Uzair (Ezra), Isa ibn Mariam (Jesus), Dhul-qarnayn (Zulqarnayn) and Muhammad (alaihimus-salatu was-salam). The names of only 28 of them are written in the Quran al-Karim. Sheth, Khidir, Yusha, Shamun and Ishmoil are not written. It is not certain whether Dhul-qarnain, Luqman and Uzair were prophets or not.
The number of heavenly Books revealed to humanity is 104: it is well-known that 10 suhuf (pl. of sahifa, little book) were revealed to Adam (alaihi-salam), 50 suhuf to Shis (Sheth—alaihi-salam), 30 suhuf to Idris (alaihi-salam) and 10 suhuf to Ibrahim (Abraham— alaihi-salam); the Tawrat (Torah) was revealed to Musa (Moses— alaihi-salam), the Zabur to Dawud (David—alaihi-salam), the Injil (Latin ‘Evangelium’) to Isa (Jesus—alaihi-salam) and the Quran alKarim to Muhammad (alaihi-salam).
‘Malak’ (angel) means ‘envoy’, ‘messenger’ or ‘power’. Then the Hamalat al-Arsh and then the four archangels will be annihilated. At the second sound all angels will come back to life. The Hamalat al-Arsh and the four archangels will rise before the second sound of the Sur. That is, these angels will be annihilated after all the living creatures, as they were created before all.
’ In Islam, iman means believing that Rasulullah (sall-Allahu Taala alaihi wa salam) is the Prophet sent by Allahu Taala; knowing to be the truth and saying with belief that he is the Nabi, the Messenger chosen by Allahu Taala, believing in brief what he conveyed briefly and in detail what he conveyed in detail from Allahu Taala, and saying the Kalimat ash-shahada with the mouth whenever possible. Strong iman is such that, as we know for certain that fire burns and serpents kill by poisoning and so try to avoid them, we should believe in Allahu Taala and His Attributes deeming them great, fully at heart, strive for His approval (rida), run to His beauty (jamal), escape from His wrath (ghadab) and torment (adhab), and place iman on the heart firmly like an inscription on marble.
Rasulullah (sall-Allahu Taala alaihi wa sallam) said that the first of the essentials of Islam was “to say the Kalimat ash-shahada”; that is, one should say, “Ash’hadu an la ilaha illa Allah wa ash’hadu anna Muhammadan abduhu wa rasuluh.” In other words, a sane person who has reached the age of puberty and who can talk has to say, “On the earth or in the sky, there is nothing nor anyone but Allahu Taala who has the right to be worshipped and Who is worthy of deifying. The real Deity is Allahu Taala alone. He is the Wajib ul-wujud. Every kind of superiority exists in Him. No defect exists in Him. His name is Allah,” and to believe in this absolutely with all their heart. Also one should say and believe: “The most noble person named Muhammad ibn Abdullah who had a face that was rosy in appearance, white-reddish, bright and lovely, with black eyes and brows, a blessed wide forehead and beautiful manners, whose shadow never fell on the ground, who was soft-spoken and was called Arab because he had been born in Mecca of Hashemitedescent, is the human being and Messenger sent by Allahu Taala.” The Prophet’s mother was Hazrat Amina bint (daughter of) Wahab. His birth in Mecca honored the world [at the dawn of Monday, April 20, in the (Gregorian) year 571]. When he was forty, he was informed that he was the Prophet [Monday, Ramadan 17, 610]. That was named the year of ‘Bi’tha’ (a prophet’s being sent for calling people to the right path). After this, he invited people to Islam, in Mecca, for thirteen years. Then he migrated (the Hijrat, Hegira) to Medina on the command of Allahu Taala. From there, he spread Islam everywhere. Ten years after the Hijrat, he passed away in Medina in July 632 (on Monday 12, Rabi al- Awwal) 5. Islam’s fifth essential is “for the able person to perform the hajj (pilgrimage) once in their life.” For an able person who has money enough for going to and coming back from the city of Mecca including an amount sufficient for the subsistence of the family they leave behind until they come back, it is fard once in their lifetime to perform tawaf around the Kaaba and to perform Waqfa on the plain of Arafat, provided that the way is safe and their body is healthy.
The Quran al-Karim is the Kalam al-Ilahi (Divine Speech, Word of Allahu Taala). Allahu Taala sent the Quran al-Karim to Muhammad (alaihi-salam) through an angel named Jebrail (Gabriel, alaihi-salam). The words in the Quran al-Karim are in the Arabic language, and they descended in ayats (verses), letters and words arranged together by Allahu Taala. The meanings carried by these letters and words convey the Kalam al-Ilahi. These letters and words are called the Quran al-Karim. The meanings that disclose the Kalam al-Ilahi are the Quran al-Karim as well. This Quran al-Karim which is the Kalam al-Ilahi is not a creature. It is eternal and everlasting, like the other Attributes of Allahu Taala. Once every year Jebrail (alaihi-salam) would visit to recite, in the same order as they had been recorded in the Lawh almahfudh (where all matters have been inscribed, in Paradise), the part of the Quran al-Karim that had already been revealed, and our Prophet would repeat it. In the year when he was about to honor the Hereafter, Jebrail (alaihi-salam) visited twice, reciting the entire Quran al-Karim. Our blessed Prophet and most of the Sahaba had memorized the Quran al-Karim wholly. In the year when he honored the Hereafter with his blessed being, Abu Bakr as-Siddiq, the Caliph, brought together those who had memorized the Quran al-Karim and having gathered those parts that had already been written, had a committee write down the entire Quran al-Karim. Thus a written copy called the mus’haf came about. Thirty-three thousand Sahabis reached a consensus that every letter of that copy of the mus’haf was in its right place.
What is initially necessary for every person to do is to say the kalimat at-tawhid and to believe its meaning. The kalimat attawhid is: “La ilaha illa Allah, Muhammadun Rasulullah,” and it means: “Allahu Taala exists and is One. Muhammad (alaihisalam) is His Prophet.” To believe this fact means to “have iman,” and to “become a Muslim.” A person who has iman is called a ‘Mumin (Believer)’ and a ‘Muslim’. Iman has to be continuous. Therefore, it is necessary to avoid doing acts that cause disbelief and using things that symbolize disbelief.
The debt of gratitude and human duties to be performed and believed by human beings towards Allahu Taala with the heart, tongue and body were defined by Allahu Taala and communicated by His beloved Prophet (sall-Allahu Taala alaihi wa sallam)! The human duties which Allahu Taala showed and ordered are called Islam. One thanks Him by following the way His Prophet taught. Allahu Taala does not accept or like any thanks, any worship incompatible with or outside this way, because there are many things which men consider good or beautiful but which Islam disapproves of and regards as ugly. Hence, in thanking Allahu Taala, people who have reasoning should adapt themselves to Hazrat Muhammad (alaihi-salam). His way is called Islam. A person following Muhammad (alaihi-salam) is called a Muslim. Thanking Allahu Taala, that is, following Muhammad (alaihi-salam), is called ibada (worship).