Become Free Like the Virgin Mary
Ramadan Series 2019, Part 6
From Mawlana Shaykh Nazim’s Notebook
Dr. Nour Mohammad Kabbani

11 May 2019 Fenton Zawiya, Michigan

Fajr Suhbah

Wa idh qaala `imraati `imraan inni nazhartu maa fee batanee muharraran.

Please be comfortable, if you want to sleep, lie down, no problem, this is a free country! May Allah (swt) make us free, ahraarr, hurr, free. Who knows what freedom is? The best teacher is Allah:

إِذْ قَالَتِ امْرَأَةُ عِمْرَانَ رَبِّ إِنِّي نَذَرْتُ لَكَ مَا فِي بَطْنِي مُحَرَّرًا فَتَقَبَّلْ مِنِّي

“Behold!” a woman of ‘Imran said: “O my Lord! I dedicate to You what is in my womb for Your special service, so accept this of me.” (Surat Aali Imraan, 3:35)

Allahu Akbar. When the mother of the Virgin Mary, peace be upon her, Lady Mary, got pregnant with her, she said, “O my Lord! I take an oath to You that whatever is in my stomach is free.” That is the meaning of freedom. If anyone wants to know what freedom is, go to that holy verse in our Holy Qur’an, and in the other holy books as well, stating the Virgin Mary is free, peace be upon her. Muharrarah, “I am asking to give You what is in my stomach,” which means free from this world and what it has, because when she was born her mother took her to the temple, which is freedom from the chains of this world.

That is what all prophets came to do and what Sayyidina Muhammad (s) came to do, to free you, O Human Beings! For you to become free; that is real freedom, not what we invent! No, you are truly free if you are not tied to this world with its desires and difficulties.

“I am giving you an oath, O my Lord, that whatever is in my stomach is a free one, so please accept from me, fataqabbal minni.” She didn’t know if it was a male or female, as the mother doesn’t know. Nowadays they play tricks on mothers, “Oh! It is a boy” they go buy a whole wardrobe of boys clothes, the whole house becomes blue, then she gives birth, “Oh! Surprise, it is a girl!” They think they know, but Allah keeps showing them, “You don’t know.”

So she didn’t know, and fa taqabbalaha rabbuha, Her Lord accepted. Mawlana Shaykh Nazim says it means if Allah has not accepted it is very difficult to become free, there is someone that will cut all the chains of human beings. For you to become free you have to cut the shackles, like prisoners’ feet and necks are chained. Allah (swt) said, Inna ja`alna fi `anaaqihim aghlaalan, “I have chained their necks.” So the only way you can break those chains is by accepting the Heavenly Message.

This is the feature of unbelievers: they are chained to this world, which they love and desire. O Human Beings! If you want freedom, accept Heavenly Messages. If you don’t want to be free, you are free to stay, as Mawlana Shaykh Nazim used to say, kayfin billir, “Whatever you desire, you know better, so go free yourself.” That shackle takes you down to the bottom of the ocean. In the past, they used to tie the prisoner to a big rock and throw him off the ship. If you are chained to that big, heavy burden, to those desires, you will fall to the bottom of the ocean. When you are chained to dunya you cannot release yourself, you have to cut the chains.

How do you cut them? By following dhikrullah, which is Heavenly Books, wa khahshyaa rahmana bil ghayb, khashyaa is not only fear, that is khawf, like when you go in front of a powerful authority you fear and respect them in veneration and awe.

If you don’t follow Heavenly Orders, you fall. That is why Sayyidina Yunus (a) fell into the bottom of the ocean: Allah didn’t order him to leave his nation. Dhahaba mughaadiba, he left his nation with anger, so when he did not follow the Heavenly Orders he fell in the bottom of this world.

That is our future. Qur’an Kareem is not only stories, it teaches you. If you don’t follow the Heavenly Order you fall to the bottom of the ocean in the stomach of the whale, which is your ego, the biggest whale ever, and it swallows you. How do you get out of your ego’s prison? Tasbeeh. Fa law laa annahu musabbiheen, if he weren’t from musabbiheen, those who recite tasbeeh–SubhaanAllah wa ’l-hamdulillah wa laa ilaaha illa-Llah w ‘Allahu Akbar–praising Allah (swt), laa labithaa fi batni ila yawmi yuba`athu. if he were not from the people who worship, he would have stayed in that whale’s belly until he was resurrected. That means a human being will remain at the bottom of the ocean, chained in the belly of the whale that is dhulumaatun ba`adu fawqa ba`ad, in “darknesses over darknesses”.

Darkness in the belly of the whale, the dark depths of the ocean, darkness, darkness, darkness. The only way to cut the chains is with tasbeeh, following Heavenly Messages. So if you want to be free, say, “SubhaanAllah, alhamdulillah, wa laa ilaaha illa-Llah”. When you say it, you don’t care what happens to this world because you know it has a Lord, that Allah is The One Who Manages Everything.

So when you say, “SubhaanAllah, alhamdulillah, wa laa ilaaha illa-Llah,” you feel happy and detached from the world as you are praising your Lord. That is freedom, that is the land of the free of those who worship their Lord following Heavenly Messages. Not only this country but all countries; not only this planet, as we are not the only people Allah created. He doesn’t only have one planet with one human race, He has unlimited amounts of Creation. If He had one planet, He would be a poor one! Mawlana (q) says not only Seven Heavens, but in so many verses Allah says “as-Samawaat”, Heavens. So how many? Allah knows!

The chains have to be cut, but how? By Allah’s tawfeeq, which is what the Mother of Mary knew, which is why she said, “Accept the free one whom I have dedicated to You, and I am asking that You protect her and her progeny from Shaytan, who put the chains, by suggesting, “Look how beautiful this is! You should get it!” He throws desires in your heart and gives you ideas: take it or leave it. If you leave it, he gives you another one and another one.

So who cuts these chains? Mawlana (q) is saying we are unable to cut the chains ourselves; no matter what we try to do even for one million years, we will never be able to cut these chains. The one that has the secret to cut the chains of this world, the oceans of desires, that dark, black sea, is Sayyidina Mahdi (a). Why are we waiting for him? Because Allah gave him that secret on the Day of Alastu bi Rabbikum, when Allah gathered all our souls. That is why we are all waiting for him to break every chain, all baatil, falsehood on the face of the Earth. This is his job, to break the spiritual and physical chains of zhaahir and baatin, and he will break both the inner and external chains.

Mawlana says, what is his mission? He is someone walking to Allah (swt), saa`irun ila Allah, not enjoying or busy with dunya. Our quality is to enjoy: we go to museums, look at colors, decorations of the different exhibits and have fun. But Sayyidina Mahdi (a) is not distracted by all this decoration, he is walking to Allah, Who has given him sirran min as-sirr rabbani, a secret from the Rabbani Divinely Secret. That is why Mawlana often said, “Be Rabbani.” It means follow the one who is ‘Rabbani,’ which is Sayyidina Mahdi (a).

That secret came to him, and we don’t really know who he is, other than he is someone given a body but has a secret that will cut our internal and external chains. That secret was given to him by Sayyidina Muhammad (s). Without Rasoolullah (s), no one has any power; all prophets and saints take from him and without his support Imam Mahdi (a) he would not be able to do anything. He becomes like Sayyidna Israfeel (a), who will blow in the Trumpet and both take and give life. By Allah’s order, when he first blows he takes life, and everybody in Heavens and Earth will be finished, dead, gone. When he blows the second time, he restores life. So Sayyidina Mahdi (a) is like Israfeel (a): he will take life, meaning that he will take your life of desires, hawa, desires of the ego. When the ego cannot fulfill its desires it is bored and goes crazy, so Sayyidina Mahdi (a) takes it, and when he again blows the Trumpet, he gives life to the heart; by the death of the ego the heart lives.

Allah (swt) ordered Sayyidina Musa (a) to slaughter a cow, because there was a dead one: the cow represents your ego, and the dead one is your heart. As long as your ego is alive with its desires and wishes, the heart is dead. There is a story in Surat al-Baqarah about when they slaughtered the cow, Allah told them to strike the dead man’s body against the cow and he came alive! So when the ego dies, the heart comes to life. Mahdi (a) has that power: he does not just take a sword, no, he does more internally. Like the angel Saahib as-Soor, Sayyidina Israfeel (a), who is holding the Trumpet, not only him but if all angels of the Seven Heavens, the Throne, and all others blow, not even one fly will die until Allah (swt) gives power from His Holy Breath. So Sayyidina Israfeel (a) is holding the Trumpet but he has no power: don’t think anyone has power, because no one has power! Anna `l-quwatta lillahi jamii`an. All power is with Allah and He gives.

أَنَّ الْقُوَّةَ لِلّهِ جَمِيعاً

To Allah belongs all power. (Surat al Baqarah, 2:165)

Mawlana Shaykh Nazim is saying that Mahdi (a) has no power if Allah doesn’t grant it. That is why Sayyida Maryam’s mother took the oath, “If You accept her, she will be free,” because if not for Allah’s acceptance she would not be free. So even if all angels blow the Trumpet, a fly won’t die until Allah gives the order, and the same applies to Sayyidina Mahdi (a). Mawlana (q) says to ask for Mahdi (a), because the door of requests is open. That is why we ask to meet him: so he can cut the internal chains, make us free from the worries, problems, difficulties, and darkness of this world. He will bring you to the Light, bi idhni rabbihim ila siraat il-`azeez il-hameed, Allah (swt) has sent Rasool (s) to bring Believers by the permission of their Lord to the path of the All-powerful, All-Praised One!

Nowadays people think, “I have imaan, akhlaaq, good manners, I am Muslim, and better than others.” They think their achievements are their own making. “I am an `alim, professor, head of the jama`at.” they love all these titles which is against adab, because Awliyaullah understand whatever they have been dressed is only by the permission of their Lord. A true Believer, a saint, knows it is all due to Allah’s favor and generosity He dressed on us. A saint does not attribute anything to themselves. Sayyida Maryam (a) was a very pious, high-level saint, siddiqa, truthful one (not a prophet), from the obedient ones who submit to their Lord and believe in His Words and Books. That’s what we need to be.

Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) says Awliya don’t attribute anything to themselves, not like `ulama today who think if they quote something they are brilliant! No, we say, “Allah has arranged the means for us to go down His Straight Path, and He has guided us. Allah has quenched our thirst and fed us. We think, “My Lord has made me a scholar, someone who does good work, a shaykh, king, president, CEO, dervish, reciter, doctor.” whatever it is, Allah (swt) has dressed us with that and to know it is the adab of Awliyaullah.

Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) gives and example. Sayyidina Bayazid al-Bastami (q) was walking in an alley and when a dog approached from the opposite direction, Sayyidina Bayazid (q) moved aside to allow the dog to pass. The disciples asked the wisdom of it and he said, “O my sons, when I saw the dog, he said, ‘Yaa Bayazid, why are you elevating yourself? Why do you have that pride in your heart, thinking, ‘I am better than that one coming.’ Don’t you know my Lord gave me this image and your Lord gave you that image?”

Everyone wants to be a Wali, but why? To say, “I am a Wali.” Here a dog is teaching a saint, who is at the humble level to accept it. Nowadays shuyookh won’t accept that, they will think, “Should I listen to a dog?” Yes, a dog can teach you, O human beings! Even a bird can know more than you, O human being! Even if you are a prophet, a bird can know something that you don’t!

فَمَكَثَ غَيْرَ بَعِيدٍ فَقَالَ أَحَطتُ بِمَا لَمْ تُحِطْ بِهِ وَجِئْتُكَ مِن سَبَإٍ بِنَبَإٍ يَقِينٍ

But the Hoopoe tarried not far: he (came up and) said: “I have compassed (territory) which you have not compassed, and I have come to you from Saba with true tidings. (Surat an-Naml, 27:22)

“O Sulayman! I know something that was not included in your knowledge.” The Huhhud, Hoopoe, that little bird taught Prophet Sulayman (a), who was qutub, king of the world at that time, as they are at that level of humbleness, and they know, “Allah made him a bird and made me a prophet,” that Allah is Al-Musawwir, The One Who Gives the Image, that He made this one a saint. This is why we are in Tariqah, on this Way, to learn adab and how to behave with our Lord. Nowadays if you tell a shaykh, “Come, a dog will teach you something,” he will say, “I am the head professor of this college, so what will I learn from a dog?” They are not at that level.

So he said, “When he talked to me like that, I felt shy and let that dog pass as I waited.” That is very high adab. So the mother of Sayyida Maryam (a) knew Allah (swt) has the power and will, that the permission has to come from Him to unlock her child’s chains, so she said, “O my Lord! Accept as free what is in my belly,” and He accepted and made Sayyida Maryam (a) free of this world.

Inshaa-Allah, Mahdi (a) will make us free of the chains of this world, and when your chains are cut you become a saint or whatever Allah has decreed. Mawlana Shaykh Nazim says according to his `ahd, contract with Allah (swt), every human being will serve this world, that each of us has a service to give and we will only do that when Sayyidina Mahdi (a) liberates us. That is the true freedom, and then we perform our unique service.

Inshaa-Allah we can learn that adab and humble ourselves to You, yaa Allah, and reach Sayyidina “Mahdi Rasool”, as Mawlana (q) used to call him. Allah (swt) has sent His Messenger, Rasool (s), as we said in the beginning, it is by Rasool (s) that Sayyidina Mahdi (a) will be able to liberate us from the attachments of this world.

Allah sent the Prophet (s) to show His guidance and religion to the whole world. Mahdi’s khidma, service, is to drag your world to Allah’s Divine Presence. O human being! You have an entire world that you have yet to explore, and Sayyidina Mahdi (a) will drag all that world you in it to the Divine Presence, where you take Light from Rasoolullah (s) to perform your service in this world!

Awliyaullah–Mawlana Shaykh Hisham, Mawlana Shaykh Nazim, Mawlana Shaykh `AbdAllah, grandshaykhs, Sayyidina `Abdul Qadir al-Jilani, Sayyidina Jalaluddin Rumi–all of them took light that they are giving in this world. May Allah (swt) make us from them, truly free from the attachments of this world, yaa Rabbee, ameen. Like when Sayyidina Maryam (a) became free she brought Sayyidina `Isa, and when we become free we will meet him (a). These are spiritual meanings of physical outcomes, and we hope to be among those who meet them.

Bi hurmati ‘l-habeeb, wa bi sirri Surati ‘l-Fatihah

[Salaams from viewers.] Inshaa-Allah we can see you here. Please keep us in your prayers and ask for the blessings of this meeting to surround those here and in your countries. Ameen.

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