Sheikh Nazim

KNOW YOURSELF

to find

THE HIDDEN IDENTITY

Don?t allow your mind to be busy with the world (dunya).  Let yourself be with Allah Subhana wa Tala.  Let your thinking and everything else be of Him. You are a human being and as such, the highest and most valuable of all creatures.  You are honour to Allah, because you are created to be His servants.  Honour is only for those who are in servant hood, and they will have many people coming after them, trying to make them back off and to turn them away from their way.  This is all they will ever be able to do, as they cannot take your heart in their grasp with their hands.  They may reach to your physical body and take that away, but the Iman (certitude or belief) in your heart they cannot even touch.

Your heart must either be with Allah, or with dunya (the world). One or the other.  If it is with dunya, then their hands may reach to squeeze you.  But if your heart is with Allah Subhana wa Tala then they cannot reach to you. He will protect you so that they are not able to reach to you. If your heart is with Allah, then your physical bodies? actions will never harm you.  Never!

You cannot imagine being close to Allah Almighty, physically, but when you are keeping your soul (heart) with Allah Almighty, then you become closer to His Divine Presence, and that carries your body to be also in the Divine Presence.  But if you follow your physical desires, your soul cannot carry you to the Divine Presence. Those really alive are living with Allah. 

At least when we pray we must try to be with Allah Almighty, then it will be spreading after the prayer, and the blessings will be running through all of our actions throughout the twenty-four hours in a day.  Honour is for ?alive people?.  We made an oath on the Day of Promises, to Allah, that we would be with Him, and not leave Him.  But now that we are here, we are leaving Him. Honour for believers, depends on their Nur (Divine Lights).  Their rank and closeness to Allah, here and in the hereafter, depends upon it.  So we must look for Nur.

There is not one moment even be it for the duration of a blink of an eye that the Holy Prophet Muhammad (sal) is not with Allah.  If he is not with Allah, then with whom should he be?  What else is there more important than to be with Allah?  Is there anything that gives higher honour that to sit with Allah?  Allah Almighty is saying, ?I am sitting with the one who is remembering me?? (hadith). If you are with Allah, Allah will be with you and this is what is required from you. Say, ?O my Lord, You are that which I am asking for.? This should be your aim.Someone who is intending to go somewhere, always has his destination as his aim and in his sight.  Your aim must be to reach to the Ocean of Unity.

All difficulties and problems are due to being distant from Allah.  The one who is far from Allah, is not with Allah.  The reason for all difficulties, sins, depressions, worries and all dangers in this world, and in the hereafter, is from being far away from Allah. All problems and complaints come from being far away from Allah.

As for him who reaches to the  Oceans of Unity, it becomes that he is with Allah.  It is like a drop of water falling into the ocean, coming closer and closer to the ocean, and when it enters the Ocean, nothing is left of this drop of water.All Sufi Orders, especially the Naqshabandi Tariqa, encourages people, to ask to be with Allah.  He is with you, but you are not with Him.  He didn?t forget you.  He is with you, wherever you are.  Even in barzakh, on the Day of Judgment, or in Paradise.  There is no place where He is not with His servants.

The time with Allah is of the highest rank, and is of the greatest value. Be with Allah.  Where is Allah?  Allah is the Creator.  His existence is forever.  He has no beginning and no end.  None one can be like Himself.  He is the Only One. You cannot ask, ?Where He is??  However you may ask, ?Where is He not??  ?Where is He not present??  ?Is there anywhere or any place that you are able to find without Allah?? Absolute existence is for Himself only.  His existence fills everywhere.  Do you know this to be the case, or not?

Allah is ordering us, ?Don?t think about Myself (His Essence).?  ?You can not.?  ?It is prohibited to try and think about how I am?  No! Forbidden.  ?You can think about that which I created.?  At least you may think about your own personality.

You are now like one of those stone pyramids in Egypt.  People, look at them and think that are only built from stone, with no doors or windows.  ?Impossible!?  ?For what purpose?? ?No gates or holes!?? But the time is coming when people will think seriously about how it is.  And they will say, ?We must look into it and find out.?  Then when they get deep into thought about it, the Lord of heavens will open a space to find a way inside.

Now you are like a pyramid, thinking that you have no gates, no holes and no way to heavens. That you are like a  stone building on earth.  Running around, coming, going, eating, drinking and then finishing.  But the Lord of heavens says that if you take serious care to find a way from you to you, you will find it.  When He opens it, you should find your Lords way.  But if you are not opening yourself, and knowing, then you cannot find a way to your Lord. (Or to know Him).The gateway to your Lord is through yourself.  You are the door which you must open, and then find your Lord?s Divine Presence.

He is with the smallest piece of mass. Even if it is smaller than an atom, yet He is with it.  If He is not with it, then, there is no existence for it.  Allah must be with everything of what He created.  Therefore you may ask from Him. He is not away from you, but perhaps you are far away from yourself.  This is because you you do not know yourself, physically or spiritually.  No-one knows his personal identity and no-one knows what his ego (I-ness) is, or his soul.  Yet your spiritual being is hidden from you.  The road is long and the work difficult, in order to reach to its hidden identity.  This must be done patiently, step by step.

Allah Almighty likes for His servants to cry, shout and ask from Him, always.  He likes for us to be like lions.  The one with his Lord is like a lion and the one with his ego is like a jackal. The jackal is a dirty and harmful animal.  The Lion is the king of the jungle.  When he growls, everyone is in fear.  The Lion never fears.  All animals live in groups, but the Lion is single and doesn?t accept another in its area. Groowwl!

The End