Hamzah Wald Maqbul – Nuri and the Preference for Others 7 Ramadan 1444 Late Night Majlis Ribat
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AI: Transcript ©
Today, we
read about the 5th archetype
of Saluk,
of the drivers of Saluk from
the ancient.
These are all names that are
pretty universally celebrated,
amongst the
Masha'i from the history of Islam.
These are not people who are, like, fringe
type people.
You'll find, if you
don't believe me, go look all of them
up in the,
in the of Imam Tabi. Imam Tabi was
a Muhadid,
and,
he
feels free to say things about
wayward Sufis
when they need to be said.
And, he's definitely not like a blind adherent,
but you'll see that these people's names are
all
very celebrated and very important names in our,
in our history as a civilization,
and in our our spiritual history and on
our intellectual history as well. Because,
the treading of this
path to Allah opens up
with the heart, opens up certain things in
the mind as well. People think about things
that other people don't think about, and they're
very unique contributions to human civilization,
not just to the Ummah, but to human
civilization as well,
and ones that are
then copied and appropriated by other people as
well.
So the 5th archetype is,
that of the Nouris.
They are the followers of of Al Hasan
Ahmed bin Mohammed al Nuri,
one of the most eminent and illustrious
Sufi,
scholars.
The principle of his doctrine in regards to
tasawwuf
is,
the superiority of faqr, of poverty.
And matters of conduct, he agrees with Junaid.
So he's not a person of
intoxication, but he's one of sobriety.
It is a peculiarity
of his path that companionship or suhba.
He prefers the claim of his companion to
that over himself
and holds companionship without without preference of your
companion over yourself to be unlawful.
That a person
needs to be amongst
like minded people,
And the other of that companionship is what?
Is that you prefer your friend over yourself?
Otherwise, that companionship,
he holds it to be unlawful. Meaning what?
That there's no you're not getting any benefit.
You're making a fool of yourself out of
it. This is really important in the time
and the age we live in. We live
in a a time and age where people
spend time with one another,
but there's no actual stuff bad. There's no
love between them. They split checks,
and they loan each other money. Nobody helps
one another. Nobody prefers their brother over themself.
And there's a great secret of it. This
is actually a driver of salute. This is
not just some sort of, like, peace and
love, like, bunny rabbit, hippie camp,
type of
doctrine.
Rather,
this chapter is a very interesting chapter, and
he'll explain how this is
a very important part of the dean, in
fact.
He also holds a companionship
companionship
as obligatory on the dervishes. The the the
word Darvesh is a a Persian word
means the person, the saliq, the person who's
on the spiritual path to Allah
He holds companionship is obligatory on the dervishes
and that retirement or is not praiseworthy, meaning
staying away from the companionship of people just
being alone.
And that everyone is bound to prefer his
companion over himself.
It is related that he said, beware of
of
of retirement, meaning beware
of being alone and staying away from company.
For for it is a connection with Satan.
Hold fast to companionship for therein lies dissatisfaction
of Ar Rahman, the merciful god.
Now I'll explain the true
nature of preference of one's companion over oneself.
When I come to the chapter on companionship
and retirement, I will set forth the mysteries
of the subject in order to make it,
generally more instructive. So it's a discourse on
Ithar, on preference of others over oneself.
And Allah most high in his book said,
and they prefer,
them to themselves, although they themselves may be
indigent. So he talks about the
Ansar
That they preferred the over themselves even though
dire poverty was their their lot.
This verse is revealed connect in connection to
the
poor of the companions, or the Allahu and
whom, in particular.
The true nature of preference consists in maintaining
the rights of the person with whom one
associates
and in subordinating one's own interest interest of
one's friends and in taking trouble upon oneself
for the sake of,
promoting,
their happiness,
because preference is the rendering of help to
others
and putting into practice that which god commanded
to his apostle.
Use indulgence and command to that which is
just and turn away from thee,
ignorant.
Hamza.
Not the me Hamza.
This will be explained more fully in the
chapter, with regards to the rules on companionship.
Now preference or is of 2 kinds. 1st,
in companionship as has been mentioned and second,
in love.
In preferring the claim of one's companion, there
is a sort of trouble in effort, But
in preferring the claim of one's beloved, there
is nothing but pleasure and delight.
It is well known that when Gulam Al
Khalil persecuted the Sufis. So Gulam Al Khalil
is an interesting person. He's is
is is is biographical
entry is there in the of the Habib
as well. He was a Muaddith,
during the
the golden age of the Abbasid caliphate when
most of these classical
figures of Tasawwuf,
Junaid and Nuri and all these people are
alive.
And he was like that hater, anti Sufi
hater.
He he he was a he was a
very learned person, but he would go through
weird extremes, like, you know, claiming that there's
you know, to say that
Allah loves his you know, Allah has love
for his creation or this and that is
all nonsense and.
He had this kind of weird doctrines. I
don't know what happened. Maybe he's a grifter
who was just trying to make a name
for himself. Maybe some, you know, annoying marid,
like, just
made his to do list or something happened
or another. He completely snapped. And he's like,
all these all these Sufis, they're all just
a bunch of kaffirs. And no. Seriously. Like
and because of his
prolific amount of learning,
he got the ear of the Khalifa at
some point or another.
Like I said, these are all celebrated people
like Nuri and and Junay. You you won't
even find you won't find
saying bad about you won't find people later
on saying bad about them. But this is
something I think it's connected with it's a
reality. It's connected with what we discussed before
on the chapter on blame. That always the
righteous, always Allah has some people or another
in the creation that are there to test
these people.
And that's kind of that is always how
it's been. So this is is
is this guy.
He urged the Khalifa to put them all
to death, saying that they were, that they
were heretics, and that the Khalifa gave orders
for their execution because of this.
When the executioner
approached Raqam,
Nuri rose up and offered himself in Raqam's
place with the utmost of cheerfulness and, submission.
The spectators were all astounded.
The executioner said, oh, young man, the sword
is not a thing that people desire to
meet so eagerly as you have welcomed it.
Your turn hasn't arrived yet.
Nuri answered,
yes. But my,
my way is founded on Ithar, on preferring
others over myself. And life is the most
precious thing in the world, so I wish
to sacrifice,
for my brother and sake for the few
moments that remain. Because I hold that one
moment in this world is better than a
1000 years of the next world because this
world is a place of service and the
next and a place of service and proximity.
And the proximity is only gained through service.
Meaning, you can only move up the ranks
in this world. You can't do it in
the next.
And so again, one of those 100%. Like
I mentioned, when we started reading, there's gonna
be a lot stuff in this book that
you're gonna be like, what is that? Right?
Don't try this at home. By all means,
don't don't try this at home. But, you
know, when they said stuff like I hold
companionship to be necessary for the Saliq, but
companionship without
preferring your companion over yourself. I hold it
to be unlawful. Like, they actually meant it.
They weren't joking around when they said stuff
like that. They're, like, sincere and real people.
So the the the executioner, he puts himself
in front of the executioner
and, he says what he says. The tenderness
of Nuri and the fineness of his sayings
astonished the Khalifa
to such a degree that he suspended the
execution of the 3 of them
and charged the chief Qadi Abl Abbas, Ibno
Ali to inquire into their matter further.
The Qadi have been taken them to his
house and questioning them concerning the ordinances of,
the Sharia and the.
He found them to be perfect in their
state and felt remorse,
for his, previous indifference to their fate. Nuri
said,
though you have asked me all these questions.
Because he asked them, like, you know, like,
what's your belief? You give him the test.
Right?
He goes, even though you asked me about
all of these questions, you have not asked
me anything about, what the actual point is.
For god has servants, who eat through him
and drink through him and sit through him
and live through him and abide in contemplation
of him so much, with such intensity that
if they were cut off from contemplating him,
they would cry out in anguish.
Meaning what? You asked all the akhida test,
but you didn't ask what the point of
being alive is, which is the
the zikr of Allah
to keep it alive inside of your heart.
Maqaddi was amazed at the subtlety of the
speech in the psalmist of the state, and
he wrote to the Khalifa
that if the Sufis are heretics, then who
is left in this world who's actually Muhad,
who's actually a person who worships.
The Khalifa called them to his presence thereafter
and said, ask whatever you want. I'll give
it to you. Ask whatever treasure you want
from me, and I'll give it to you.
They all replied, the only, treasure we ask
is that you should forget about us and
make us neither your favorites nor banish us
from your court. We don't wanna be your
best friend. We're not trying to be your
enemy either.
Just let us go. For your favorite displeasure
are alike to us,
and, like, Khalifa is said to have wept
and then, to have dismissed them with honor.
Now there's a story that was, I I
believe, we read before as well in the,
Tarikh Masahi Chisht of El Sheikh Zakaria.
By the way, regarding this previous anecdote, there's
always gonna be haters.
Every every every generation of, anyone who speaks
the hap and says the truth, there'll always
be haters. And just remember that, that you'll
hear something about somebody. It's up up to
you to then investigate. Is this like,
something really to hate on somebody about? Or
is it just the sunnah of Allah ta'ala?
Some people who are actually bad will say,
oh, look.
They're hating on us because, you know, this
is the sunnah of Allah for all good
people that they're gonna have some haters. It's
like, no, dude. You actually like I don't
like
like
rob the elementary school or whatever. Like, no.
But then there are gonna be people who
people people who are accused of things and
all it is is justice,
this is that
this is how he test his
It's related that Nafir,
the the great imam of the Tabireen undi,
freed slave
of It's related that Nafir said
once desired to eat a fish.
Obviously, Madina Munawar, you're not gonna fish every
day. Right? So he desired to eat fish.
So he said, I sought through town. I
knew that he wanted to have fish when
he hadn't had had it for a very
long time. So I went through the town
and did not find one until several days
had passed. Having procured it, I gave orders
that it should be placed on a cake
of bread, a nice bread, and presented to
him. I noticed an expression of joy on
his face when he received it, but suddenly
a beggar came to the door of his
house, and he ordered that the fish be
given to him.
The servant said, oh master, you have been
desiring a fish for several days. Let's give
the beggar something else. There's other things in
the house that we can give.
Ibn Umar replied to Nafir. He said, this
fish is unlawful to me, for I have
put out my put it out of my
mind on account of the tradition, which I
heard from the messenger
Whoever feels a desire and repels it and
prefers another to himself, he shall be forgiven.
The author, then continues. He says, I've read
in the anecdotes of the that 10 dervishes
lost their way in the desert once and
were overtaken by thirst. They had only one
cup of water,
and prefer everyone preferred the claim of, the
others over himself so that none would drink,
and they all died except for one who
then drank it and found the strength to
escape from his situation.
Some person said to him, had you not
drunk it, it would have been better.
He replied, the sacred law obliged me to
drink because if I had not, I would
have killed myself and been punished on that
account. And other than said, then did your
friends kill yourself kill themselves?
He said no. They refused to drink in
order that their companions might drink, but when
I alone survived, I was legally obligated to
drink.
This is this is this is, again,
the idea that
the the the the people who are the
true people of Saluk, they're not, like, out
of their mind. These principles have parameters within
which within which they operate, and those parameters
are the sacred law.
Nicholson here is acts kind of like a
hater
because he then cuts out
2 incidences from the life of the prophet,
and he just makes a footnote that he
just cuts them off. There's actually a very
long chapter in this book about the,
like a kind of a sufic analysis of
the.
He cuts that out as well.
And, you know, one of the things is
that this old school group of Mustashiditin that
really learned Arabic properly and really learned Persian
properly and really were deep into deep,
like,
into into this this study that they were
trying to learn. Many of them actually having
faked conversions and lived with Muslims for, like,
years, if not decades,
in order to really know things inside out.
Some of them have made Hajj. Some of
them have prayed Jannah for years on end,
etcetera.
And they weren't late. They prayed their sunnah.
I'm like,
anyhow.
Right? They really got into it real deep
to understand it. But there's this thing inside
of them, this
arrogance, that they couldn't accept the fact that
these, like, dirty,
swarthy, dark people somehow have something that we
don't have.
And so they you can tell that the
the the amount of reverence with which this
this translation or translations like it are written,
the amount of exactness, There's a type of
respect for it, but somehow or another, they
you you see the haters come out from
time to time. So his haters is there.
He always cuts out the things about the
prophet
and about the companions
So he writes a footnote. He says, here
follows 2 stories illustrating the 2 topics, which
he doesn't bother to to write. The first
relates to how
Ali
slept in the bed of the prophet
on the night of hijra.
Meaning what? He preferred that he should take
the assassination of the assassins,
rather than,
rather than the Rasul Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.
And, the second is,
and he wasn't he wasn't killed. He was
protected. He he he he made it out
alive.
And the second is on the battlefield of
Uhud, when the wounded, marched
with thirst.
When water was brought to them, they preferred
their companions over themselves. The first sent the,
the water to the second, the second to
the third. The third died, then they went
back. And in that order, they found that
all of them had had attained in the
path of Allah.
So he he just relegates us to a
footnote, although it's actually part of the discussion.
It's part the most important part of the
discussion.
He continues. He says, amongst,
there was a devotee who had served God
for 400 years. One day, he said, Lord,
if you had not created these mountains,
then wandering, for the sake of,
Dean would have been easier for your servants.
Right?
The Now we've translated it as tourism, but
wandering for the sake of for the sake
of Allah, it would have been easier for
your servants.
This, this devotee said this thing and then
the divine command came to the of his
time to to say to the devotee, what
business have you to interfere with my kingdom?
Now you have interfered, I blot your name
from the register of the blessed and ascribed
it in the register of the damned.
Upon hearing this, the,
devotee trembled with joy and bowed in
thanksgiving to bowed on the ground in thanksgiving.
The apostle said, oh, fool. It's not necessary
for you to bow in thanksgiving for damnation.
My thanksgiving, said the devotee, is not for
damnation, but because my name is at least
inscribed in one of god's registers.
But, oh,
oh, apostle, I have a favor to ask
of you. Say to god, since you will
send me to *, make me so large
that my place will displace the sinful people
of Tawhid and let them go to paradise.
God commanded the apostle to tell this devotee
that the probation which he had undergone was
not for the purpose of humiliating him, but
to reveal his state to the people.
And that on the day of the resurrection,
both he and those for whom he would
had interceded would be in paradise.
Again, the Rasulullah SAW, he said,
You tell the stories of
The previous stories that Nicholson turned into a
footnote are the proof that this story, at
least the principle and is sound whether it
happened or not.
And that's that's the point.
The author then says, I asked Ahmed Hamadi
of Saraks,
what was the beginning of his conversion? So
they use this word conversion although they were
all born Muslims or many of them were
at any rate, but meaning from heedlessness to
taking the path, you know, taking the path
to Allah and making it their life's goal
to
reach
Allah He replied, once I set out from
Sarafs and took my camels into the desert
and stayed there for considerable amount of time.
I always wished to be hungry and would
give my portion of food to others.
Thinking of the words of Allah
that they are the ones who prefer others
to themselves even though poverty is their lot.
These words were ever fresh in my mind.
I had a firm belief in the path
of the Sufis that somehow or another this
would lead me to Allah Ta'ala.
One day, a hungry lion came from the
desert. So this is kind of a
miraculous thing that happened. He said, one day,
a hungry lion came from the desert
and killed one of my camels,
and then retired
to,
the high ground and roared.
The wild beasts and the air beasts in
the area all heard his roar and gathered
around him. He tore the camel to pieces
and went back to the higher ground without
having eaten anything. The other beasts, fox, jackals,
wolves, etcetera, all began to eat, and the
lion had waited until they had all gone
away.
Then he approached in order to eat a
morsel, but seeing the lame fox in the
distance distance terrying, he withdrew once more so
that the newcomer could eat his fill.
After that, he came and ate a morsel.
As he departed, he spoke to me,
who had been watching from afar and said,
oh, Ahmed, the one who prefers another to
himself and only food, such an act is
worthy of dogs. A man sacrifices his life
and his soul.
When I saw this evidence, I renounced all
my worldly occupations and this the beginning of
my conversion.
Don't try this at home.
Start with food.
If we have the of dog on the
day of judgment, it's also a great. But
this is
how Islam reached all of these different places.
This is how the Mongols, like, trashed the
Muslim world and still ended up becoming Muslims
afterward. This is how,
Islam overwhelmed the civilization of the Zoroastrians,
the Vedic civilization
because of which the Hindus are still salty
to this day. Right? They didn't force people
to convert. They converted. The best of them
converted on their
own, because they saw these things. This is
how the Christians, the the the actual Christians,
the actual Christians, the people of Egypt, the
people of Syria, the people of Anatolia, you
know, this is how these people, the people
of North Africa, this is how they
entered into the Deen, is because Allah gave
this madad, He made these things happen. Otherwise,
this is not a normal thing, it doesn't
happen normally.
Ja'far al Khuli says one day when Abu
Hasanoori was praying to God in solitude, I
went to overhear him for he was very
eloquent.
He
made dua, oh lord, in your eternal, knowledge
and power
and will. You punish,
the people of *,
whom you have created?
If it is your inexorable,
will to make * full of mankind and
you're able to fill * with all of
its limbels with me alone. Send them all
to paradise.
I was amazed by his speech, but I
dreamed,
then late thereafter that someone came to me
and says, God bids you to tell Abu
Hassan that he has been forgiven on account
of his compassion for God's creature, creatures and
his reverence for God. Again, don't try this
at home.
We don't do these things. Obviously, Abu Hassan
Nuri is not an imam of Aqidah.
We follow the sunnah of the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam. But the point is is
that these
these, sentiments that they had inside of their
heart, they were genuine sentiments that a person
should never
desire another person to go to * or
make dua that another person went to *.
It's sufficient for us to know that the
Rasulullah wasalam dealt with the worst of people
and he never made that desire. He never
harbored that sentiment.
He was called Nuri because when he spoke
in a dark room, the whole room was
illuminated with the nur of his, spirituality.
And by the light of the truth, he
used to read the inmost,
thoughts of his disciples so that Junaid said,
Abu Hasan is a spy on the men
of, the hearts of men. He's a jasus
al kulub.
This is his particular doctrine.
It is a sound principle,
and
one of great importance in the eyes of
those who have insight.
Nothing is harder to a man than spiritual
sacrifice that they should sacrifice their own. Here,
he translated us spiritual meaning that they should
sacrifice their own self for the sake of
another person, like everything that they have, whether
it's material or whether it's
immaterial
and to refrain from the object of his
love. And God has made this sacrifice the
key to all good. He said, you shall
never attain,
righteousness until you give,
of that which you love.
When a man's spirit is sacrificed, of what
value are his wealth and his health and
his frock and his food. This is the
foundation of Tasawwuf.
Once a man came to Ruaim, Ruaim was
also a great sheikh in the time of
Junaid. Once a man came to Ruaim for
direction, Ruaim said to him, oh, my son,
the whole affair consists
in sacrifice.
If you are able to do this, it
is well. And if you cannot do not
occupy yourself with their other futilities, the of
the Sufis.
Like all other fancy talk, fancy dress, nice
and all that other stuff. Don't waste your
time with.
Sacrifice is the thing. If you can do
it, then you'll get something out of this.
If you can't the rest of it, don't
waste your time with the rest of it
thinking you're gonna get anywhere.
Meaning all except for sacrifice is futile. And
God said, do not call dead those who
are slain in the path of Allah, nay,
they are verily, they are living.
Forbid that you don't call them dead. I
actually made this mistake just a couple of
minutes ago. Right? You don't say the person
died. You say the person's shaheed,
rather they're with Allah, they're alive,
but you do not perceive it. They're alive
and they received their, provision from him. Eternal
life is granted by spiritual sacrifice and renunciation
of self interest in fulfilling god's commandment and
by obedience to his friends.
But from the standpoint,
Ma'arifah knows his preference and free choice are
separation,
And the real preference consists of union with
God for it is a true basis of
self interest and self self abandonment. So this
is the yin yang that your
most full
expression of self interest is in abandoning your
yourself because the spiritual world is inverted. It's
not like the the material
world. So long as the seeker's progress is
connected with,
acquisition, it is pernicious.
Meaning, you try and say, I'm gonna do
this. I'm gonna do that. You're
on on on unstable ground.
But when, the attracting influence of the truth
manifests as dominion, on all of one's
actions.
All of his actions are confounded, and he
loses the power of expression
nor can any name be applied to him
or any description be given to him or
anything imputed to him on this subject.
Said in verse, he says, I am lost
to myself and unconscious.
My attributes are annihilated. Today, I am lost
to all things, not remains but a forced
expression.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make us lost to
ourselves. Allah ta'ala give us
in exchange for ourselves something better
that lasts forever and His pleasure.